Black
by counterfeiit1
Summary: Eva Bishop is just trying to live her life as best as she can in her seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry without any unneeded interruptions. Unfortunately for her, Sirius Black is hell-bent on making her life more difficult than she wants it to be. Why, you ask? Open her diary and let her tell you.
1. The First Day of Black Mayhem

**Tuesday**

 **September 1, 1977**

 **Kings Cross Station**

Sirius Black is quite possibly the most dreadful human being to ever have been born.

In fact, I am not entirely sure that he _is_ a person. He's probably a leech that's been transfigured into a humanesque form.

I don't even know what he was thinking, I mean honestly? I _do not care_ if he was going to be given thirty galleons or that I would receive half of them. I honest to Merlin do not care.

There I was, I had just said goodbye to my mother and father and pushed my trolley through the barrier when he jumped me! No, "hi, Bishop!" or, "fancy seeing you here at the train station for the school we both attend!" It in fact sounded awfully a lot more like, "Despite the fact that you despise me, I think we should snog!" (Except without the despising part).

What?

I mean, honestly?

Is he completely and utterly bonkers?

Has he been drinking too much babbling beverage?

I had walked in and was looking forward to starting the school year on a positive note. My mother no longer cried when she dropped me off at Kings Cross which I took as a good sign.

It seems I should _not_ have taken that as a good sign, because as soon as I walked in I was ambushed from behind, and naturally I thought it was Lily or Charlotte, but _no_. If the force of the hug wasn't a big enough clue that it wasn't them, him whispering, "I think we should snog," cemented it (unless they had developed an odd Eva fetish overnight).

You know when you're in a situation and the adrenaline kicks in and you're no longer in control of your body? This was one of those situations. I took the opportunity to kick his shin. Hard. Very, very hard. I may have also elbowed him in the stomach. I am unaware if it's just me, but kicking people gives me a certain sort of happiness, especially when one of those people is a member of the Marauders, or, as they _should_ be referred to as, the Bloody Prat Quadruplet.

"What the bloody hell did you do that for, Bishop?" Black growled, clutching his shin. I stared at him. I felt a grin coming on. Wait, never mind.

"I could ask you the same question, Black." He frowned and narrowed his eyes in apparent confusion. "Or have you forgotten already? Have you lost your bloody mind?"

Black's grin returned to his face. "Oh," he said brightly. "That."

"Yes," I glowered at him. "That. Mind telling me how life as the only living brain donor is?"

My poor attempt at insulting him ended up with his grin spreading even wider than it previously was. "Well I'm pretty sure you heard me the first time, Evelyn, but if you so desperately want to hear me say it again then I would be most happy to oblige."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I retorted.

Black took a step closer and then paused, staring into my eyes. "I think that we should snog."

Ahh, there it was _again._

Here enters James Potter, the complete and utter hare-brained fool, with the witty, "well aren't you two bipolar today?"

"Well if you wouldn't mind telling me why he's _lost his mind_ I would quite possibly be slightly more agreeable," I glowered.

Potter beamed. "Oh, yes. I thought it would go down a bit like this. You see, I woke up this morning and thought, my oh my, what would be a good way to make today a bit more interesting? I always have galleons to spare-"

"Arrogant toerag," I muttered.

"-so I told Padfoot here that if he got you to kiss him I'd give him thirty galleons."

" _Thirty galleons!"_

Potter shrugged. "Yep, thirty. But of course he wasn't able to do it, so... no one gets any money. More's the pity."

"Yeah," Black whined. "And I was going to give you half for your participation!"

Now I had two people to glower at and it wasn't even 11 o'clock yet! Speaking of 11 o'clock, I hadn't loaded my belongings yet and that meant I had to yank my trunk over to the accommodating trunk lifter and hop onto the Express.

I stared at them for a bit as I tried to collect my thoughts from the tangled mush pit of despair they had sunken into.

"Well?" Black inquired.

"Don't ever suggest that again, to my face, thank you. I'm not afraid to cross wands with you."

"You want me to take out my wand?" He asked, looking surprisingly happy for someone who had just lost the opportunity to win 30 galleons.

"I would _love_ it if you took out your wand, Black, but now is not the time. I need to get on the train. You can stay here and do whatever you want with your wand if you'd like."

Black grinned. "Probably for the best. Might not be the most appropriate thing to do right now with all these firsties around. Rain check?"

I glared at him and turned my back. I saw Potter give him a high five out of the corner of my eye.

The train was delightfully half-empty when I hopped on. The first years were all still wandering hopelessly around the platform, and the second and third years _still_ hadn't received the get-on-the-train-earlyish-to-get-good-seats memo. The fourth years and fifth years had taken up some of the compartments, and the sixth years were standing around gossiping _outside_ their chosen compartments, leaving the sevenths years to get on the train hopefully before all the good compartments were taken.

My yearly compartment was the third one from the back, and luckily was still empty after I kicked out some atrociously behaving fourth years with the threat of removing house points (the wonders of being a prefect). It was barely 10:50, so of course Lottie wasn't here yet. Her punctuality resembled the remains of a three-hundred year old leaf that had crumbled away 299 years ago(that is to say, non-existent).

Lily is the more punctual of the three of us, and knowing her, was already in the Prefects compartment, being Head Girl and all. Now that I mention it - I should probably be there (I know, shocker), but I have to wait until that ruddy friend of mine appears so she can take control of this compartment!

Well speak of the devil, here she is now.

 **Tuesday**

 **September 1, 1977**

 **The Hogwarts Express**

So.

I have discovered some things.

Interesting and unfortunate things.

Things that I will proceed to document.

After Lottie blustered into the compartment, hair sticking up all over the place like an electrocuted chihuahua, I was successfully able to enter the prefects compartment.

Guess who was blooming Head Boy?

James bloody Potter.

That absolute twunt head was Head Boy.

Well that was possibly the most unexpected development. I was fully expecting the most realistic option, also known as Remus Lupin, to have had Head Boyness bestowed upon his perfect, screwed-on-correctly head.

What on earth has the world come to?

I was fully expecting my future husband (not that he knows) to be Head Boy. After all, he deserves it.

The other interesting thing that I discovered whilst in the prefects meeting is that despite his many large and obvious abundant faults, Potter may have some slight minor ability to make a half-decent Head Boy. Despite already having an altercation on the platform, Potter managed to somehow reign in his seemingly endless immaturity in order to make 'adult decisions.'

I never said that though, okay diary?

 _Okay Eva._

Okay.

 **Tuesday**

 **September 1, 1977**

 **Still on the Hogwarts Express**

Well, after the fatefully woeful prefects meeting (by woeful, I am referring of course to the presence of Potter), Lily sort of stormed off to our compartment in a Head Girlish manner (and by that I mean walked calmly but I didn't want to get too close in case I burst into flames or something).

Lottie, being Lottie, noticed Lily's foul mood as soon as we walked in. "What's got your hippogriff in a twizzle?"

Lily glowered and scowled and spoke all sorts of obscenities before answering. "Potter, the bloody prat, was made Head Boy, and he didn't bloody think it important enough to inform me."

"He what?!" Lottie spluttered, her mouth opening and closing with an awful similarity to a fish. "Head Boy? But surely, Remus-"

"Head Boy, I tell you. Dumbledore's completely and utterly off his rocker, he's gone barmy, lost his bloody marbles!" Lily threw her hands up in the air.

"He's crazy," I echoed helpfully.

"What was he thinking? That's really rotten luck, Lily. Especially with everything that happened over the summer."

"I know," Lily grumbled, plonking down next to Lottie. "Potter'll probably be too busy ruining my life to pay any attention whatsoever to his Head Boy duties. What's the bet he'll destroy the school while he's at it."

After Lily had finished ranting about James Potter, we were able to settle down and play a riveting game of exploding snap. The train ride is awfully long, you see.

Poor Lily. She didn't deserve the horror that is Potter to have an even larger presence in her life. I mean Lily will be a great Head Girl, obviously. I mean she's a whizz at potions, and who's good at potions besides Severus Snape? Lily is, apparently. Lottie and I used to think she bribed him to help her write all her essays because he's half in love with her. Or was? I'm not really up to date with anything. Either way, it doesn't matter because they stopped talking mostly in fifth year, so it's obvious Lily has her own potions ability.

It does make sense though as to why Snape liked her though, despite being a Slytherin. She's so nice to people that aren't being prats, the most loyal friend, and she's really pretty with her bright red hair. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure the first thing James Potter said to her was to ask if her head was on fire, and well, that probably started their hundred-year war.

Lottie and I aren't quite so good at potions. I mean, I'm alright, but not nearly as good as I am with charms. Lottie's kind of rubbish at it though. If it wasn't for Lily there's no way she would have gotten into NEWT level potions. She's also the only one of us who's actually related to someone magical - her mum's a witch. She has a sister (Julie) who's in fifth year, and a brother (Mark) in third year. Lottie's very quiet - except with the people she knows, and she likes to sleep. And eggs. She's always eating eggs.

And well-

Oh wait.

Oh, not now.

 **Tuesday**

 **September 1, 1977**

 **Still on the Hogwarts Express**

Moral of this story: remember to tell friends about certain snogging related incidents before the other persons involved tell them.

We were interrupted from our intense game of exploding snap by some gits who obviously aren't intelligent enough to work out how to entertain themselves without pestering other people. It's not as if I went away over the summer and didn't get to see Lily or Lottie, is it? I totally did not want to spend this time purely with them so I could catch up on everything I missed, did I?

Instead, Potter and Black flung open the compartment door and barged inside.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "What do you think you are doing, Potter, because I'm pretty sure I told you that I didn't want to speak to you?"

Potter pretended to think before answering, "No idea what you're talking about. What I do know is that it's rather cold. We might come in." They closed the door behind them.

Lily was about to yell at him when the door opened _again_ and my one and only true love, Remus Lupin, and Peter hopped in. "Oh hi, boys and girls," Peter waved hello. "Fancy seeing you here!"

Remus sat down on my right (swoon), across from Potter who had successfully squished himself in next to Lily. Peter squeezed in between the wall and Lottie, who was opposite Black, who had decided to sit next to yours truly (I'll kill him later).

I don't know how Remus puts up with that terror for a mate. It must be his increased level of maturity.

"I don't know what you think you're doing here Potter," Lily growled, "but I think you should leave."

"Oh?" He replied. "Well I'm not here for you Lily, we're here for Bishop!"

"What?"

About fifty percent of the people in the room looked confused by this statement. Normally Potter's terrorising of innocent people extends to Lily, the Slytherins, and unaware firsties.

"Oh yes," Black grinned. "Earlier on the platform we were talking about the most _interesting_ subject, and we thought we should continue that conversation."

Dammit, Black.

"What conversation?" Lottie asked, confused.

"Merlin's beard, Black! Do you have problems with rejection?" I spluttered.

"What conversation?" Lottie echoed, still confused.

Potter and Black grinned. "Did Evelyn not tell you?" queried Black. "It's truly a riveting tale."

"Well," I divulged, "long story short, Potter's paying Black thirty galleons if he can get in a nice snog in with me."

Lily's eyes bulged and Remus choked on his water.

"He what?!" Lily bellowed.

Lily gets kind of dramatic about these things. Potter kind of triggers that in her. So do I, actually.

Potter appeared unconcerned with Lily's reaction. "Well you see, I had this money just lying around and I -"

"Out, Potter," Lily growled. He looked slightly startled at Lily's outburst, but remained seated. "I said get _out,_ Potter!" Lily said again, putting full force into her anti-Potter glare. "You too, Black, and Remus and Peter. _Leave._ "

"Wha

 **Tuesday**

 **September 1, 1977**

 **Hogwarts Dormitory**

Oops. Spilt my ink.

It's almost 12:30am now, so I'm not going to finish recounting the entire story but you get the basic idea. Lily yelled, Potter left and then Lily yelled at Black, leaving Peter, Remus, Lottie and I to sort of look confused, but eventually all the Marauders were gone. Then Lily had the nerve to yell at me! At me!

What had I done?

Now that I think about it, why was she so upset? It wasn't even about her.

She's completely bonkers.

Ooh, my owl, Selene, just arrived with the annual _you just arrived at school it's been a day I can't handle the separation_ letter from my mother.

I'll read it in the morning. It's too late for me to write what else happened last night.

After the eventful day I've just had, I very much need to sleep.

 ** _AN:_** **Hey all! This is the first chapter of my fic, in the style of Commentarius by B.C. Daily! Please leave feedback and/or ideas below.**

 **XOX**


	2. The Day My Friends Went Psycho

**Wednesday**

 **September 2, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Dorm**

 _Dearest Evie,_

 _How was your train ride, and how are Charlotte and Lily? Thanks for leaving Selene with us, otherwise it could have been weeks before I heard from you! I fed her some of the owl treats you left with us, if that's okay. And tell Lily congratulations on making Head Girl, from your father and I. Hope all is well,_

 _Lots of love,_

 _Mum._

It is now approximately six-thirty in the morning and everyone in my dorm is asleep. There's two other Gryffindor girls in my dorm besides Lily, Lottie and I - Alice Sturnam and Marlene McKinnon.

I'm not too close with Alice, but Marley's on the quidditch team with me so we're friends. Alice and Marley hang out with the Hufflepuffs - mainly Alice's boyfriend, Frank Longbottom - but we still talk and say hi to each other. I mean, we're all friends, it's just Lily and Lottie and I are like, best friends.

Marley's one of the beaters - I'm a chaser, along with one half of the bloody prat duo, James Potter, who not only managed to become Head Boy, but he snagged bloody Quidditch Captain as well! That captaincy was _mine_ I tell you! Mine! Is it legal for someone to be both Head Boy and Quidditch Captain? Surely they should have parameters for these sorts of things. Inclusion, you know?

Mum always sends letters on the first day of school - it's become a weird tradition of hers. I've just resorted to not bringing Selene to school with me - just her cage - so that mum can write me letters. She's so, well, _clingy._ I do love her for it though.

Anyway. Six-thirty. I'm a bit of an early bird. Not sure how that happened - in fifth year you couldn't get me up in time for breakfast. I'm not sure why, but halfway through sixth something just _clicked_ and I started waking up before seven.

No-one wakes up at six-thirty, I tell you. Classes start at nine, so most people are up from seven-thirty to eight-thirty, and consequently, the great hall is always mostly empty, which makes it an excellent time for breakfast!

 **Wednesday**

 **September 2, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

I'm sitting across from Dorcas Meadowes, the wonderful sixth year who completes our Gryffindor quidditch team three-woman club. She's the keeper, and bloody great good one at that. I swear, if Dorcas wasn't here we'd all be clawing our way out of the graves we'd have been buried alive in. Bloody Slytherins.

Besides Dorcas, Marley, one Bloody Prat and I, there's Thom Mickle, he's a third year, and the seeker. Martin-George McGonagall completes our chaser trio, and he's a fourth year and McGonagall's nephew to boot (there was _obviously_ no favouritism/coercion involved in his making the team), and, well, we can't forget Johny 'Meathead' Morris, who is actually friends with Dorcas, believe it or not. Well I guess it makes sense, actually, as they're both sixth years, but well, as his name suggests, there's a logical explanation as to why he's not in Ravenclaw. He's a nice chap though.

 _Anyway,_ I'm sitting across from Dorcas, which isn't unusual, but she isn't talking, which _is_ unusual.

"Dorcas. Meadowes. Dorc."

She lifted her head and glowered at me. "Bishop?"

Whoah. Dorcas wasn't normally a last name type person. "Um, Dorcas, you doing okay?"

I swear in that moment I thought she was going to hex me. "I was until some bloody idiot dropped a bucket of flobberworm mucus onto my head as I was coming down the stairway."

Ahh, that was the smell. "Peeves?"

"No. The idiots left a note," and here is when she narrowed her eyes at me. "It's for you."

Oh, flipping flobberworms. Of course. Sirius Black. Turning my friends against me since '59. "Uh, thank you?"

She just continued glaring and passed the note over. It read:

 _Dearest Evelyn Katherine Olivia Bishop,_

 _Please reconsider yesterday's proposition._

 _Remember, 30 galleons are at stake. You could buy perfume to cover that horrible smell with that money._

 _Lots and lots of love,_

 _Your one-and-only. XXX_

Sirius Black the bloody git. Wait! How did he know about the Olivia! Only Lottie and Lily knew about the Olivia! It's been a highly guarded secret for absolutely yonks. I swear, if one of them squealed...

Anyway, Black has absolutely no social awareness, like literally none. You don't just go around dropping buckets of flobberworm mucus on girls that you're trying to get to snog you! I mean _seriously?_ Has that ever been known to work in the entire history of humanity? Has anyone ever been all 'hey, here's some flobberworm mucus,' and another person was all 'that smells so amazing I want to snog you?' I highly, _highly,_ doubt it.

Besides, if it was anyone besides me, I'm sure they'd be jumping at a chance to get a snog in with Sirius Black. Wait! An idea! I'll get Lily to make me some polyjuice potion, and then I'll feed it to one of his groupies and get them to kiss him, and he'll think it's me! Brilliant! I'll get my 15 galleons and Black'll be none the wiser.

"Bishop! Are you even listening to me?" Oops. "I said, do you know who this is? What proposition?" Dorcas was sort of waving the note in my face like a fan so I thought I'd put an end to that and grabbed it.

"Uh, absolutely no idea!"

Dorcas glared and tried to snatch the note back. "Bishop!"

"Actually, Dorc, I just realised I have to do something with Lily, like, right now, so I'll get back to you on that." I stood up and rushed away from the Gryffindor table, leaving her glowering over her breakfast.

Phew.

Dorcas' face was so interesting that I forgot to look where I was going and what do you know, I decided it would be a good idea to run straight into none other but Sirius Black.

"Evelyn! Just the person I wanted to see!"

Oh how I wanted to wipe that smirk off of his face.

Black plucked the note out of my hand and smiled. "I see you got my note, and don't you smell," he sniffed, "divine." A look of confusion flashed across his face. "Wait, Bishop, you actually smell really good. How on earth did you get the smell off you that quickly?"

I almost laughed. I probably would have if he hadn't put in that jab about me smelling _really good._

"What smell?" I smiled. "Why wouldn't I smell lovely? This is just my morning glow!"

His look of confusion did not falter.

"Oh, but Dorcas over there met with a nasty surprise this morning!" I looked back to see her looking over at us with a frown. "Apparently someone dumped a bucket of flobberworm mucus on her! The horror!"

It was nice to see Black struggle.

"You mean that-"

"Yes, Black, you git. And now she's ready to kill someone. I don't reckon you can weasel your way out of this one by offering to snog her."

Black blanched and pushed his hair out of his face. (I really should make a tally of how often he does that). "Damn it."

What an idiot. I swear, sometimes he ju

 **Wednesday**

 **September 2, 1977**

 **Charms**

Sorry diary. Was writing in my dorm before I realised I was late for Herbology. And guess how many of the marauders are doing Herbology? Sadly, only two of them. And by sadly, I mean Remus isn't doing Herbology, which means Lily, Lottie and I have to put up with the Bloody Prat Duo.

Lily didn't really talk to me this morning, I think she's still annoyed about the whole snogging incident.

Black only asked me to snog him twice in Herbology! I think there's hope for him yet. He also only touched his hair a total of seventeen times.

Anyway, now it's charms and again, all the marauders (how did they even come up with that name anyway?) (who even has a nickname for their friendship group?) (why am I not constantly questioning everything they do?) are here. Today Flitwick's trying to teach us how to do nonverbal charms. I'm excellent at it (well I can talk myself up in my own diary, can't I?) as usual, and how could I not be? After all, Charms is my best subject.

I have no doubt in my abilities, and that's why I'm using this opportunity to scribble the day's events doww

Dammit. Some git just chucked a ball of parchment at me.

Oh, it's Black. What a toad. I swear he should be put on a leash.

The letter reads:

 _Bishop._

 _Meet me at lunch. Library. Ancient Runes section._

 _How about no?_ I write it on a blank piece of parchment and throw it back at him. The reply comes quickly.

 _Bishop._

 _This is not up for discussion._

Uh, yes it is up for discussion.

While Flitwick's not looking, I charm two pieces of parchment (well thanks, Black, now I'm low) to pick up any ink written onto either. Our conversation goes as below. ( **Black,** Eva)

What are you talking about you imbecile?

 **You're the imbecile, Bishop. I really need fifteen galleons.**

Uh you're crazy. High off of babbling beverage. Slughorn won't be happy you've been into his private stock.

 **I'm not high on babbling beverage you idiot. MEET ME IN THE LIBRARY.**

Wowzers.. no need to be so... LOUD.

 **STOP AVOIDING IT BISHOP. I'LL BE AS LOUD AS I WANT. LIBRARY. LUNCH.**

NO.

 **YES.**

That's not going to work Black. It's a NO from me.

 **Very well then. I'll convince you somehow.**

Doubt it.

 **After classes?**

Quidditch practice you moron. Don't you know Potter's got us all training like the bloody match is tomorrow!

 **Oh yeah.**

Our conversation ended after Flitwick took one glance at me and frowned. "Impressive charm work Miss Bishop, however, not what you are supposed to be doing."

Flitwick loves me.

 **Wednesday**

 **September 2, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

 **Sirius Black Hair Touch Count (SBHTC): 24**

So Dorcas is nowhere to be seen, which I suppose is a good thing, because then Lily would ask more questions, and well, I'm not emotionally prepared enough for that yet.

Lily's sitting next to me and staring at the wall, absolutely _fuming,_ and Lottie's eating eggs again. At least Lottie knows how to avoid Lily's wrath. Lily seems to be permanently angry. Lottie seems to be permanently un-angry. I think I'm somewhere in-between.

Anyway, apparently Potter used _densaugio_ on Lily in the corridor, and she had to go see Pomfrey to get her teeth shrunk down. Could have just asked me.

Potter's a git. And speaking of gits, 3/4 of the marauders are sitting slightly down from us at the Gryffindor table. They're probably too nervous of Lily without Potter around, but Black keeps shooting me these looks, like they're supposed to mean something.

I'm doing an excellent job of ignoring them.

I don't know why, but Remus is looking particularly fine today. Maybe the sun's shining, or the way he parted his hair is different, but he looks positively _gorgeous._

Lottie's also shooting me these funny looks, from the corners of her eyes above her eggs. Dammit Lottie.

I lean over the table when she's not looking at me and whisper, "Why the weird face?"

I did not anticipate the shriek of surprise. Now all 3/4's of the marauders are looking over and for Remus' sake, I hope my hair looks alright.

Trying to ignore them, I lean over and re-ask the question. "Huh, Lottie? What you doing?"

She covers her mouth with her book and hisses "You're giving Remus these funny looks, and Black's giving you these funny looks, and I really hope you're not engaging in a three way."

I pull a face. "Ew, Black's a git."

"A hot git."

I can't believe she just said that. I think she realizes then, the horrible words which just escaped her mouth because her eyes open really wide and she stares into the distance with a look of utter confusion.

"He is though," she says, hopefully horrified by her words.

I raise an eyebrow.

"I can't believe I just said that, I think I need to cut out my tongue."

Lily decides to tune in at this moment, and quite loudly asks, "why do you need to cut out your tongue?"

This, quite unfortunately, engages the attention of the trio, who decide it would be a good idea to move on down and join the conversation because it obviously wasn't private or _anything._

"Why do you need to cut out your tongue, Lottie?" Sirius barks (HA! I made a funny).

"I uh," Lottie splutters. Meanwhile, I'm both trying to gauge Remus' reaction to this conversation, and trying not to die of embarrassment. "She said your name, Black, and it was such a horrible thing to say that she can't survive any longer."

Black laughs at that. Toerag. It wasn't supposed to be funny. "And why did she say my name? Talking about how good-looking I am?"

I stare at Lottie and try to will her with my eyes not to give anything away.

Lottie looks at me in panic. She chokes down a mouthful of eggs.

Black's look of laughter turns to one of disbelief. "You're kidding."

Lily goes white.

"We were merely discussing your groupies and how there are so many guys hotter than you in the school." Good one Eva. I mentally high-five myself.

"Oh, is that true? And who might those people be?"

Dammit Black.

"Uh, well, there's uh, Mark Abery, and Longbottom, and-"

Black raises an eyebrow. "Mark Abery's a fifth year."

I nod, "A _hot_ fifth year."

Remus chokes on his pumpkin juice. He seems to be doing that a lot lately, choking on things that is.

Lottie nods in agreement, understanding my brilliant plan. "And yeah, there's Martin-George and uh, Dumbledore."

Remus chokes again. I pat his back sympathetically.

"Are you quite alright in the head?" Peter asks. "I thought Lottie was actually sane."

Lily finally recovers and slams her hands on the table, causing us all to jump.

"You know what, it's really none of your bloody business, is it. Mark Abery's very hot. Hotter than you. Hotter than all of you."

"Who's hotter than me?"

Oh, it was nice of Potter to join the party.

"Everybody is hotter than you, Potter. Even Severus is hotter than you."

Oh no. I had really hoped to escape this day without people yelling at each other.

Potter arches an eyebrow. "Snivelus, the greasy-haired Slytherin sap? Now you've lost your marbles Lily. You must be absolutely blind if you think Snivelus is hotter than me."

"It's true," Peter echoes, not entirely helpfully.

"Oh screw you, Potter," Lily glares.

He smirks. "Gladly."

Lottie musters up her courage and stands up. "Actually I've just remembered that Lily has somewhere to be, doesn't she Eva?"

I nod, obviously.

"And where might that be?" Black asks.

Potter and Lily are having a glare-off, it would seem.

"Wherever you aren't," I smile and grab Lily's arm. "Lil, we're leaving, now."

Lily continues glaring at Potter but skulks off silently behind us. I can see Peter laughing to himself, and Black attempting not to.

Lottie and I rush Lily out of the Great Hall as quickly as humanly possible.

 **Wednesday**

 **September 2, 1977**

 **Library, Charms section**

 **Sirius Black Hair Touch Count (SBHTC): 24**

Finally, a chance to write.

After that awful incident in the Great Hall, we rushed Lily back to our dormitory where she fumed and ranted about, "Potter this," and, "Potter that," for the rest of lunch. I wasn't entirely paying attention because I was reading this new book about charms that Flitwick lent me, but she mentioned something about Potter and summer, but as I said, I wasn't really paying attention.

After she calmed down we were able to go to Ancient Runes, one of our few releases from the menaces that are James Potter and Sirius Black. Luckily for me, Remus is in our class, so he and Peter sat with Lily and I. Lottie had Care of Magical Creatures, which sadly for her, meant that she was the only barrier between the Bloody Prat Duo and complete insanity.

Luckily for us, Ancient Runes begins rather slowly, and so we were only set to translating an easy text.

After Runes we had DADA where we successfully avoided the marauders and instead put great focus into learning about werewolves with Professor Murphy. I was happy to see the marauders look uncomfortable, serves them right. Except Remus, he should always be happy.

Anyway, now I'm holed up in the library, attempting to start on my charms essay before bed. Maybe Flitwick doesn't love me as much as I though he did.

I almost forgot! After lessons we had quidditch practice, and Potter seemed more annoying than usual, and I suppose I had Lily to thank for that. Dorcas seemed back to normal, which was good, I suppose, but I think my legs will never recover from our 'fitness workout.' Bloody quidditch.

Oh look! 11o'clock. I should probably go to bed before Pince starts cursing in french at me.

Ta ta until tomorrow diary!

 ** _AN:_** **Thanks again for reading this chapter guys, it means a lot, and also please feel free to leave ideas, feedback, or things you hope to see happen later on!**

 **Please vote, it'll only take a second. Thanks for reading!**


	3. To Snog or NOT to Snog

**Thursday**

 **September 3, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Common Room  
(Edit: and the Great Hall, sadly)**

I've given up on counting the amount of times that Black touches his hair. It'd be a week from now and I'd be up to a thousand, and really, who wants to waste parchment on numbers.

Lily and Lottie are at breakfast, and I'm attempting to hide out in the common room. However, if Black decides to come in here I'm screwed.

So I woke up early, as usual, and went to go get breakfast and what do I see? Black and Dorcas eating, next to each other. This is obviously problematic as where would I eat, besides next to Dorcas?

He's ruining my friendships, _and_ ruining my food!

Does she know he's the one that spilled mucus all over her? Huh? Does she? I could always just, well, send her a note.

Good thinking Eva.

I'm going to starve to death.

In the long run, thirty galleons isn't even that much money!

Actually, well, according to muggle studies, it would be about 150 pounds, 340 Australian dollars or 300 American dollars, which, in the muggle world, is probably a lot.

I would like fifteen galleons now that I think about it.

Actually, that would involve getting closer than a foot to Black, which in the long run, is probably not a good idea. He probably smells really bad.

I think I need to visit a mental hospital.

Ahh, speaking of mental instability, here comes Lily!

"What on earth are you doing?" She hissed, attempting to squeeze her way into the crevice I had forced myself into. "I had to put up with not only the marauders, but Potter and Black's fifth year female stalkers (fifthies). Not good."

I rolled my eyes. "So dramatic."

"Well I'm not the one who's hiding," Lily sputtered. "Lottie's stuck there, trying to detain the bloody prat quadruplet (triplet, in my opinion) while I've been hunting for you. Get out of your crevice and come eat!"

My eyes widened; Lily must have been around Potter for over half an hour if she was this frazzled, but, well, I couldn't very well just go could I? "Uh, no, sorry Lil, I have, well, things to do, places to be, that sort of thing, you know."

"You're not still worried about the whole snogging thing are you?" Lily questioned. "I've forgiven you for that anyway. And, if you think about it, Black will have probably managed to escape Lottie's clutches by now and won't be there when we get to the great hall."

"You make an interesting point." But not good enough to get me down there.

Lily sighed. "I hate to have to resort to this, but if you don't come, I will be forced to tell a certain someone about a certain thing that you wouldn't really want anyone to know about."

Despite Lily's ridiculously uninformative threat, I actually understood the basis of it, and was either referring to the fact that once I stole Black's underwear and transfigured it into a piece of clay that looked and (after some tricky charm work) smelled like apple pie, which he ate, or the fact that I have designed every aspect of Remus' and my wedding (it's going to be in the Autumn), which, realistically, would cause damage through whoever she told.

I narrowed my eyes. "You wouldn't."

"Whatever you think I mean, I would," she laughed.

"But how on earth can you know what I'm thinking of? There's multiple options." She wouldn't be able to get out of this one.

"Exactly," She grinned. "So I can do any of them, and it will have the same effect."

Dammit. I hate her, I really do. "I hate you."

"I know. Now, move your butt, the Great Hall and _finally_ some decent company awaits!" Lily grabbed my arm and yanked, _rude,_ and within what seemed like moments I found myself at the entrance of the Great Hall.

Somehow I managed to stop the yanking momentarily and pop a glance inside. Marauder free. Thank goodness.

"Oh come _on,_ Eva," Lily groaned. "No one's in there."

I had actually deduced that for myself, but thanks anyway. She dragged me over to the Gryffindor table where a flustered Lottie sat with her arms crossed. Joy. More people that were annoyed at me.

As soon as we arrived Lottie stood up and grinned. "Worked like a charm, Lils. The boys have gone, Eva is successfully not starving to death, and my headache is hopefully over."

So anyway, I've been sitting here writing this all down since Lily dragged me down here, and now Lily and Lottie are gabbing about Lottie's favourite band, the Phoenix Fiends. I'm just trying to stay hidden until Muggle Studies, and so far, no sign of the Marauders.

 **Thursday**

 **September 3, 1977**

 **Muggle Studies**

Lily always asks me why on earth I take muggle studies, seeing as I'm muggleborn, and it's for one of a few reasons.

One - literally no one I know takes this subject, so I have peace and quiet.

Two - I lied, one person I know takes it, the gorgeous and helpful, Remus Lupin.

Three - Muggle Studies are actually interesting, thank you very much!

Four - please refer to two.

There's mostly Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs in my class, no Slytherins of course, and us two Gryffindors it would seem.

After I escaped Lily's clutches I headed up to the dormitory to grab my textbook and parchment, when I was almost accosted by, you guessed it, Black and Potter, puzzling over some parchment. I, of course, managed to hide myself away behind a painting (thank you Brunhilda of Bratwurst), and I swore I heard Potter and Black about to discover my spot, their footsteps coming closer to the wall until mysteriously fading away.

So after that almost catastrophic experience, I grabbed my supplies and headed to the my classroom, and lo and behold, there he stood, Remus Lupin, shining (literally) in the sunlight, hunched over his parchment at a desk with an empty spot.

The only way to make this more cliche would be if there were literally no desks left in the classroom and I _had_ to sit with him, but, there were plenty of passable spots, with a noticeable one next to Horus Harris, the possible most foul Hufflepuff to have graced the earth. His odour was not only noticeable from seven classrooms away (we've counted), but his hair was possibly as greasy as Severus Snape's, and mousy to boot.

So there I was, pondering the seating benefits of the classroom when Remus not only turned around and smiled at me, but waved at me in a 'come hither' sort of motion.

Talk about _swoonworthy._

I, of course, put all my effort into gliding gracefully towards the desk, but, as usual, I have the grace of a flobberworm climbing a ladder, and sort of end up doing a weird sort of two-step to his seat.

"Are you quite alright, Eva?" He asked, his caramel hair sweeping across his forehead and his emerald eyes glimmering in the reflection of the window. (I'm quite allowed to write soppily in my own diary, thank you very much).

"Uh, yes, of course, I was merely trying to perfect my imitation of a flobberworm climbing a ladder." (See, whoever said I wasn't witty must be clobbering themselves on the head right now).

He raised an eyebrow, "I see. And how exactly does one imitate a flobberworm climbing a ladder?"

"It's a lot of shuffling really, and you also have to do the occasional lurch, they don't have arms or legs you see."

He smiled, "Makes sense."

I am brilliant, am I not?

"So, would you care to sit?"

Would I care? WOULD I CARE?

Somehow, I kept my composure and smiled (as daintily as humanly possible). "Oh why not."

He smiled back (swoon) and I sat down just as Professor Bunt walked in to start our lesson.

 **Thursday**

 **September 3, 1977**

 **Library**

So normally I like to keep my private life my private life, you know? But Lily and Lottie _obviously_ had other ideas. I had finished Muggle Studies which went by without much interest, Bunt was going on and on about cars and trains, and so I didn't have any time to make any real progress with Remus. As I was saying, I finished Muggle Studies and headed off to my next class, which was potions. I was then accosted in the corridor by my supposedly 'best friends,' who not only dragged me into my second crevice for the day, but started by bombarding me with questions that were not only nonsense, but irrelevant!

"So what happened?" Lily asked, her eyes wide.

"Sorry, what?"

"With Remus!" Lottie added, as if that would make more sense.

"What?"

"In Muggle Studies?" Said Lily.

"Huh?"

"Your class with Remus in Muggle Studies." Lottie looked at me as if I were bonkers, which was obviously _not_ true. I am perfectly sane. I think.

"Why would anything happen?"

"Now, Eva." Lily said, grabbing me by the shoulders. "Have you, Evelyn Katherine Olivia Bishop, had a crush on one, Remus Lupin since the beginning of sixth year?"

"Well that would be a correct statement."

"And have you, Evelyn, not been waiting for an opportunity, the perfect opportunity to mate-"

"To what?" I think I misheard Lily there.

"-to make use of an opportunity to be more-than-friends?"

I narrowed my eyes, "Well yes, of course."

"So wouldn't Muggle Studies, a class home to only two Gryffindors, be the perfect opportunity to make. Your. Move?"

Well I can see her point now. "Well he did ask me to sit with him, so there's that."

Lottie almost jumped from excitement. "He what?"

Bloody saps. The lot of them. "You know, when there's a spare seat, and there's only two Gryffindors in the class, naturally one Gryffindor invites the other Gryffindor to sit with him."

I swear, Lily and Lottie were quite oblivious sometimes.

"I'm not sure why, Lottie," Lily said, "But our dear friend Evelyn here has suddenly developed an unexcitement complex of some sort. I'm not quite sure how, but it seems she must have been slipped a calming draught."

"You seem to be right there, Lily. Under normal circumstances our dear Eva here would be more excited than Potter and Black during detention, but she seems to be," And this is when Lottie exchanged a worried glance with Lily, " _unconcerned."_

Okay, they were definitely both bonkers. I guess it sort of makes sense, I have been waiting for this moment for like, a year, but STILL, Remus probably only wants me to sit with him for my muggleborn knowledge, and with the whole snogging incident with Black, he also probably thinks I'm mentally challenged or something.

"Guys, you know we're three minutes late for potions right," I added helpfully.

"Oops!" Lily smiled, and ran off in the opposite direction, leaving Lottie and I to regain our wits and follow after her.

When we got there Slughorn gave us disapproving looks but dismissed us with a winningly charming smile from Lily, definitely his favourite student, waved us to our seats and continued introducing the topic.

However, being last to class had certain disadvantage, namely, lack of seating choices. Lottie saw her opportunity and went and sat with Hollie Beckham, an actually genuinely not bad Slytherin. This left the two worst seats in the classroom, those directly in front of, well, you guessed it, Potter and Black.

Marley and Alice shot us concerned glances from the table next to us but Lily and I braved through the utter horror and unfortunate circumstances that we now found ourselves in.

Almost immediately I felt a piece of parchment hit the back of my head.

" _Oi,_ Bishop," could also be heard being hissed behind me.

Normally it was Potter hissing at Lily.

Dammit Black.

The parchment read:

 _Dearest Evelyn,_

 _I do hope you have changed your mind, as I can think of many things I could buy with 15 galleons._

Yeah. Like deodorant.

 _No one would have to know, except, well, Prongs. And actually also Moony and Wormtail. And knowing you, Evans and Charlotte. That adds up to a total sum of seven people, which realistically, isn't an awful lot for a one minute sort of thing._

One minute! What sort of snogging does he want to get into? My innocence!

 _Because of your severe need to ignore me, and your superiority complex,_

I do not have a superiority complex, thank you very much! Gosh, he doesn't know anything!

 _I understand that you wouldn't normally do something like this, but please dredge out even a smidgen of compassion from that small heart of yours and consider making a poor man 15 galleons richer!_

Uh, he does know that I know the Blacks are one of the oldest and richest pureblood families in Britain, right?

 _Don't leave me penniless._

Well thanks for that letter Black, it really made me feel sorry for you. Probably shouldn't have gone for the money angle, that really didn't work in your favour.

I was interrupted by a nudge in the ribs from Lily. "Eva, stop reading and pay attention to Slughorn!"

Wow. Friendship is dead.

Anyway, after that I was forced by my supposed best friend to pay attention, and then, miraculously did not get harassed by Black at all for the lesson.

"Students," Professor Slughorn added at the end of instructing us how to do something with our cauldrons (I wasn't really listening) ,"the person you are sitting with will be your partner for the rest of the year, so choose wisely." He shot a glance over the class and noticed the bloody prat duo grinning at each other. "Except," he frowned, "you boys."

He smiled at Lily, "Miss Evans, I hope it wouldn't be too much trouble if you were to trade seats with Mr Black and work with the Head Boy for the year?"

Obviously he didn't know about the 100-year-war going on between Lily and Potter or else he wouldn't have dared suggest it.

Lily grimaced. "Uh, well actually."

"Lovely," Slughorn grinned. "I'll be sure to see you and Mr Potter working well together next lesson, now, class dismissed! Next lesson we'll be making our potions, so remember to bring your cauldrons!"

Poor Lily.

She grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the classroom before I could blink. "Eva, this is possibly the worst thing that could ever happen to me," she wailed, quite dramatically, I might add.

"Lily! How are you holding up?" Lottie joined us, a bit puffed after running to catch up.

"Not good," She groaned. "I think I'm going to die."

"Well at least you and Eva will die together!" Lottie attempted to diffuse the situation.

Wait.

What?

"Huh?" I added, ever so eloquently.

"You have to work with Sirius?" Lottie pointed out, confused.

I managed to use my nerves of steel and not pass into a dead faint, but still, a small part of me died when she said that.

"I'm gonna what?"

Now Lottie looked even more concerned. "I'm not sure what's up with you today Eva, but you're acting awfully strange. First the thing with Remus, and now not even noticing that you'll have to work with Sirius?"

"Sirius? Since when have you called Black Sirius?" I asked.

"Since always?" Lottie replied.

"But- but- but Sirius? What is this?"

"You call Remus Remus," Lottie pointed out.

WHAT AUDACITY.

"Yeah, but that's Remus! And besides, most of the time Remus isn't a BLOODY TERROR!"

"I think both of you are forgetting the most important thing here!" Lily shouted. "I have to work with bloody Potter!"

And now I'm sitting in the library, writing this, while Lily is upstairs having an existential crisis and crying over the fact that she is now being forced to work with the bane of her existence, and Lottie's puzzling over why she became friends with us in the first place.

Still avoiding Black.

Bloody menace.

I'm going to bed.

 **Thursday**

 **September 3, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Dorm**

UPDATE:

So I was trying to go to bed when I HAD AN INCIDENT WITH BLACK AND I'M MENTIONING IT HERE SO I DON'T FORGET TO WRITE IT DOWN TOMORROW BECAUSE IT IS TWELVE NOW AND I NEED TO SLEEP.

SOMEBODY HELP ME.

 _ **AN:**_ **Concerned about what happens next chapter? I would be too. *laughs evilly***

 **Please leave feedback/comments anything really so I know that people are actually reading.**

 **Today's fancast is Andrew Garfield as Remus Lupin, Eva's crush and 1/4 of the Marauders!**

 **Please vote, it'll only take a second, and thanks for reading!**


	4. I Need Some Serious Counselling

**Friday**

 **September 4, 1977**

 **Library**

So it's breakfast right now, and I'm hiding out in the library. Actually, now that I mention it, I seem to be doing a lot of hiding. I'm not entirely sure why. Actually I am sure why. Due to the events of last night I'm avoiding anyone with eyes or a mouth.

So, last night.

I was sitting in the library, avoiding pretty much anyone who would force me to become more like Lily and question the entirety of the universe. Lily was, of course, up in our dorm, questioning the universe, which the other girls were used to by now, and Lottie was most likely comforting her, seeing as I was avoiding everyone.

I am so outraged at the moment!

I was so happy that my day was not going to be cliche (I mean the Remus thing, lets be honest), but the Potions incident? Slughorn? Why would you do this to me? Part of my life's work purely consists of avoiding cliches!

Black is not at the top of my list of 'people I would like to work with!' In fact, he's not on it at all! What a git.

What a bloody git.

I bet he planned the whole thing.

Anyway, the library was nice and comforting for my life-questioning needs, and I had just finished writing down the events of the day, when I heard a sort of rustling behind me. In my distressed state I flung my wand arm out and muttered _'anteoculatia,'_ not really considering that it could have been an innocent Hufflepuff first year behind me (not that you'll find any of those - mark my words! Just ask Hol Buggery - a poor Ravenclaw in my year who was on the bad end of a nasty foul during a quidditch match against Hufflepuff).

I then, of course, turned around to admire my handiwork, and what did I see? A mildly distressed Sirius Black, that's what!

Black sort of stood there, three feet behind me, opening his mouth like a fish and probably trying to ignore the six foot long antlers sprouting from his head.

His eyes started bulging, and his faced turned red, and that's when I knew I was done for, done for I tell you! My life was over, Black was going to kill me, there and then. But then, for some bizarre reason, unknown to any sort of sane person, Black started laughing!

There I was, fully expecting my head to spontaneously combust, and he started laughing!

"Shut up!" I hissed. "Pince'll hear you, and then where will we be?" I started slowly picking my things up (to run) as Black slowly started sobering up (as he very well should have. The thought of a crazy french librarian coming after you is not a positive one).

I knew I was done for. I knew my life was over. Last year I was an innocent, young sixth year, unconcerned by the antics of the marauders, but it hadn't been a week yet and Black had already offered to snog me numerous times (like, rude!), stolen my seat at the breakfast table, destroyed any chance of doing well in potions, and basically ruined my chance of having a good year. What an awful person.

Anyway, the git in question was standing there, six foot antlers raking the ceiling, and I was standing, books in my arms, getting ready to bolt, when we heard Pince muttering two shelves over.

Black raised his eyebrows and quickly crouched down, trying to hide his new painfully obvious abnormality (not that I was complaining. I wish I had a camera so that I could take a picture of his head bobbing stupidly like that).

I looked left and right, there was nowhere to run. Pince was on the left and on my right was only one shelf and then a wall.

"Bishop," Black hissed. "Fix this."

I blanched. In my panic of not getting a detention all forms of counter charms had left my brain. Normally I'm good at this sort of thing.

"Bishop! Hurry!" Black whisper-yelled, unintentionally drawing the attention of the resident psycho librarian. Idiot.

 _Finite!_ That was it! I just had to get my wand... I reached into my pocket and grabbed my wand, dropping my books and falling to my knees in the process, but still managing to splutter out the counter-charm in the process.

Black, in all his wisdom, reached down to steady me by leaning down and putting his hands on my shoulders, just as Pince rounded the corner, noticing me on my knees, Black's hands on my shoulders, both our clothing rumpled and both of us out of breath from the stress of attempting not to get detention.

Pince's eyebrows almost leaped off of her face as she ripped Black backwards and pulled me up off the floor, her grip iron. "I will not stand for any form of fornication in this library, and especially not at this hour of night!" Pince yelled, drawing the attention of several curious Hufflepuffs, and then saying some unsavory words in French that should not be translated on any form of paper.

Wait.

nO. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.

Black's eyes widened in surprise and I almost choked in horror as I attempted to get my protests out. "No, no... I wasn't, we weren't, I just-"

"Quiet you *insert unquotable French word here*," Pince scowled. "You may not have gotten the whole way but I've known enough students to know that boys are fond of other ways to-"

"Oh no," I spluttered, "I was only on my knees because I-"

"I don't want to hear any of your excuses you *equally unquotable French curse word*! Both of you will have detention every night for two weeks, and twenty points will be take from Gryffindor. Each."

All I could do was stand in horror as Pince dragged Black and I out of the library and to Professor McGonagall's office, Black seemingly unperturbed by the change of events, and my books still scattered all over the back corner of the Charms section.

"I just, I wasn't', I-" but Pince ignored my pitiful protests and we rounded the corner to the possibly scarier head of Gryffindor's office.

McGonagall stormed out, her scarlet dressing gown fluttering about her ankles and her normally composed hair let down for the night. "Would anyone care to tell me how we lost forty points for Gryffindor so early in the term, leaving us with a fine score of minus five?"

Pince smiled (evilly), her nails (talons) digging into my shoulders. "I found these two participating in some unsavoury acts in the library."

McGonagall's eyebrows seemed to recede into her hairline as she reviewed the situation. "I would expect this from you Mr Black, but Miss Bishop?"

"No, I wasn't, we weren't-" I weakly tried to explain, glancing towards Black for some sort of agreement but he seemed more amused than anything, and uninterested in pleading our case.

"You will report to Filch for your detentions at 7pm sharp every evening until your detention period is over, and Miss Bishop?" McGonagall frowned, "One more slip up like this and I will be forced to review your prefect status."

I couldn't believe what was happening.

"Now both of you, off to your rooms. Now."

McGonagall left with one last scowl, slamming the door behind her. I was fuming. I couldn't believe that Black had just stood there the whole time, just nodding and agreeing with everything she said! It was like he didn't care!

"Back to bed now," Madam Pince smiled nastily. I swear, she and Filch must be related. Aside from her french accent. Maybe they were secret lovers once and that's why they hate everyone.

I trudged down the hallway, silently fuming, and doing my best to ignore the _thing_ next to me. May I remind you of the transfigured leech point I made earlier.

"So..." Black said, blatantly ignoring my death stares. I would hex the life out of him if I hadn't wanted to be a prefect so badly. Also, two weeks of detention was enough for me.

"Didn't see that one coming did we," he tried again.

I walked a little faster.

"Are you angry at me or something?" Black asked.

WHAT A BLOODY GIT YOU STUPID LITTLE GIT LEECH BLOODY IDIOT.

"You do know that it was you that gave me the antlers right, that was on you."

That's it.

"I have just _had it_ with you Black," I snarled. "It's not even the first week and you've already made my life hell-"

"Is this the snogging thing?" He interrupted. "Because that wouldn't exactly be he-"

"And on top of that, Pince thought we were, that I was, that- and you didn't even say anything against it! Those Hufflepuffs saw and so by tomorrow the whole school is going to know that we got detention because Pince thought we were- well- and you didn't, you didn't say anything to oppose it!"

I think that there's a reason that people say girls are more mature. Mostly due to the fact that boys are BLOODY IDIOTS. DAMN BLOODY IDIOTS.

"You do know that they wouldn't have believed a single word that came out of our mouths, right? And besides, this way both of us get detention, instead of just you, you know. For hexing six-foot antlers on top of my head." Black patted my back. Patronizing tosser.

"This is all your fault, Black," I hissed. "Fix it."

I was done with Black. Done. Positively finished. He could kiss his sorry arse.

 **Friday**

 **September 4, 1977**

 **Library**

Agh. Was almost seen by a Hufflepuff. What is with those Hufflepuffs anyway? Aren't they supposed to be nice? Sneaky tossers.

So now, diary, you understand exactly why my life is ruined, and exactly why I need to hide out.

When I got back to my dorm everyone was asleep, so I couldn't say anything to Lottie or Lily, and then after tossing and turning all night I woke up early and came here, positive the word of my skanky antics had been shared all around the castle.

I'm very hungry.

Damn. It's almost time for class. I've Muggle Studies first up, thank goodness I won't have to face anyone I'm actually friends with. Aside from Remus. Damn. Well this can either go two ways - he, having had previous experience with the unorthodox Sirius Black, would either believe the rumours, or, knowing my reputation, would laugh them off. Wait, what does that say about my reputation? Actually, I don't care. I have bigger fish to fry.

Great. I can't avoid the world anymore. Off to Muggle Studies!

 **Friday**

 **September 4, 1977**

 **Muggle Studies**

The whole way here everyone was looking at me. I think. I was avoiding looking anywhere besides the ground. Everyone seemed more whispery than usual. I'm interested to know what everyone is saying about me though. "Did you hear that Eva was caught skanking it up with Black in the library last night," is probably it. Hopefully. Knowing this school it could be much worse.

The real question is honestly why do I care at all? Who are these people? I am quite obviously their superior, charms extraordinaire, Gryffindor Prefect and seventh year! You know what? They can say whatever they like about me and I shan't care at all. They're nothing to me. Nothing.

Anyway, I'm in Muggle Studies and I'm sitting next to Remus and he hasn't done anything unusual! He said, "hey Eva, how are you on this fine morning?" And I replied, "confused and concerned," which he seemed to be okay with. No ladder-climbing flobberworms today either.

Should I be concerned? I don't know. Maybe I should talk to Remus. I'm not sure. AGH.

You know what, what's the worse thing that could happen?

"Hey, um, Remus," I whispered, whilst the professor was arguing with a Ravenclaw over the true meaning behind the microwave.

He glanced up from his work, and after taking a quick look at the professor, whispered, "yes?"

A RESPONSE! IT'S A MIRACLE! Who know what'll happen next. Kill me.

"Well, uh, seeing as you're friends with Black and all, and due to the fact that you have ears, I was merely wondering if you'd heard about-"

"How Pince apparently caught you and Sirius, uh, well, in the library last night, causing us to lose forty points, and you to receive a detention every night for two weeks, which is rather lucky, considering Pince, but I guess she likes you," Remus interrupted with annoying detail.

I winced. Merlin's knickers! Wait, Pince likes me? Odd. I didn't think she liked anyone.

"I would, however, like to add that I have been informed of some information that the resident Hufflepuff gossip mill was unaware of when they shared the story, with amusing detail, this morning at breakfast." Remus smiled, glancing over once again at Professor Bunt who had transitioned to the riveting topic of hand-held soap dispensers.

"So you know that we weren't really, uh..." Oh golly, I can't even get the words out as it disturbs me on quite a large number of levels.

"I might need to come to you next time I'm in need of some charm work though," Remus grinned. "I heard they were impressive antlers and I would have given anything to see Padfoot's face when you hexed him."

Ahh Remus. You beautiful human.

"But, in case you're interested," Remus added, again looking over his shoulder at Bunt who I think has transitioned to the aerodynamics of the tricycle, "your story is famous. Everyone's talking about it."

Knew it.

"I think it may actually be good for your reputation, if you care about such things. People won't think you're as much of a stuck-up prude anymore."

STUCK UP PRUDE? EXCUSE ME?

"A stuck-up what?" I hissed at Remus.

He looked concerned for a second before answering. "Sorry. It sounded different in my head. But you didn't know?"

"Know what?" Golly, Remus.

Remus looked concerned again. "I guess that's what people generally say about you. Not stuck-up in the Slytherin type of way, but the type of way that you're unapproachable and too smart to be in Gryffindor. Obviously I don't think that. You're not stuck-up at all."

Well I guess I did get almost all O's on my OWLs.

"But at least now they don't think you're a prude," Remus added.

A prude? Me? A PRUDE?

Remus continued, "especially since they think you and Sirius finally did something. Everyone kind of figured you'd just given up on holding out on him. I don't know why I'm telling you this. Absolutely none of this is helpful whatsoever. You know what? I'm just going to shut up now."

Well alright, I must admit, I haven't really put myself out there - I've at least dated more than Lily and Lottie, (who, aside from Lily dating Hol Buggery in fourth year in order to annoy Potter - it's a long story - haven't actually gone out with anyone), with a total of two boyfriends.

Two! It's a miracle. You may be wondering how this happened, with me being me and all (or as Hogwarts apparently puts it - a prude), but in second year I was asked out by a third year Gryffindor named Scott McCloud, (quite a scandal) right after I had just won thirty points for Gryffindor after my winning the second-years dueling competition (which was discontinued in my third year after some poor Slytherin lost an eye), and it lasted all of two weeks before he dumped me to be with Hanna Hartford, the Ravenclaw bombshell in the year above him, who, coincidentally, also won the second-year dueling competition in her day. Apparently she now does modelling. They broke up after two days. HA.

Anyway, my second boyfriend was in fifth year, the year before I developed my 'infatuation', as Lily puts it, with Remus Lupin. His name was, well still is, Amos Diggory, and he was two years my senior, which was even more scandalous than Scott McCloud, as Amos was the resident Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain and head boy, with flowing gold locks and toned and chiselled ( _extremely_ ) abs.

Lily went bonkers when she found out we were going out, and she held a party up in our dorm, and Alice sneaked in some firewhisky and all five of us got a bit tipsy as I recounted the story.

It was a good relationship. Lasted nine months. Then he realized he was leaving school and I had two more years and he couldn't be tied down to a student if he wanted a job at the ministry. Git.

That really put me off guys until I opened my eyes and saw the beauty which was right in front of me. Literally. He's right there, now. Back to my point. "I am not a prude!" I hissed, crossing my arms in indignation. "I dated Amos Diggory for nine months, and Scott McCloud in second year."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but you never actually did anything with Amos, you only snogged in public once, and there weren't any rumors, well, evidence, that you two had properly hooked up."

Well Remus just took an interesting turn. "You do know that most people, actually, all people, including me, didn't actually know that, right?" I narrowed my eyes and his cheeks turned pink.

It is mighty unusual that he could recount facts about my snogging habits...

"I, uh," he cleared his throat awkwardly. "I had a bit of a crush on you back in fifth year. I was going to ask you out but then he did and so I wrote everything about your relationship down in a notebook, uh, it was a bit stalkerish... sorry."

I think I must have misheard him. Or maybe I didn't. I think my heart has stopped beating. Am I having a heart attack? AM I? I'm also going to choose to ignore the borderline stalking but AM I HAVING A HEART ATTACK?

Remus avoided my eyes and his face went red. "But that was totally two years ago, I'm totally over it. You don't need to worry."

A HEART ATTACK?... Oh... Well then.

"Completely over it."

I don't think my heart can take any more of this tugging in different directions. What is this strange sensation I'm feeling in the corners of my eyes? Is that... is that water?

Remus shifted in his seat. "Eva? Uh, are you alright?"

"What? Oh. Yes. Good. Yes. Thanks. Yes."

"What?" Remus looked confused. Which generally happens when people spend a prolonged amount of time with me.

"Uh. Well I'm not a prude."

Remus looked relieved that I was dropping the subject. "Oh. Well okay." Then all of a sudden a look of alarm flashed into his face. "Eva, look out!" He said, staring over my shoulder.

I turned around to see a levitating paperweight heading straight for my head.

And didn't duck. Because my vision was obscured by the water in my eyes.

 _ **AN:**_ **Hey guys! This chapter has some interesting developments, and focuses on relationships as you may have been able to tell, just to give a bit of background information into some of the main characters.**

 **This chapter was going to be like twice as long as the other chapters and I wanted to post it and didn't want it to be massively longer than my other chapters so I cut it short. Besides, with everything Eva's been through this week it's probably good she's going to see Pomfrey to check up on her health. Specifically mental health.**

 **Please comment what you liked/disliked about the story - and if you have any ideas please comment them!**

 **Please vote, it'll only take a second, and thanks for reading!**


	5. We Should Invest in Some New Beds

**Saturday**

 **September 5, 1977**

 **Hospital Wing**

I woke up to find myself in a different bed with Madam Pomfrey standing over me.

"I thought I told you last year, Eva, any more trips to the hospital wing and we may need to confine you here permanently," Pomfrey smiled, fussing with some potions.

Ahh yes. Pomfrey and I are on excellent terms - mostly due to the fact that I inherited my mother's clumsy gene and have a habit of forgetting where the fake stairs are, and fall through them.

"What happened?" I asked, sitting up and immediately feeling my head ache. "I remember I was in Muggle Studies and I was talking to Remus and then I was hit."

Oh.

Remus.

Is that water I feel leaking out of my eye?

Pomfrey finished fussing over her potions before passing one over to me. "Here Eva, drink this. It's a blood-replenishing potion and you should feel better soon And I'm glad you seem to have all your memory sorted. And regarding your accident? From what I heard, Professor Bunt and Miss Fletcher were having an argument over some sort of muggle contraption and Miss Fletcher thought it would be a good idea to demonstrate with a paperweight, but misjudged the weight to levitation ratio and well, here you are."

"Ahh yes, the classic paperweight to the head."

"Twenty points have been removed from Ravenclaw, if that makes you feel any better." Pomfrey grabbed the empty potion from my hand, which did make me feel better, now that I was back to the proper amount of blood one should have in their body.

"Did anyone come to visit me?" I asked. Just curious. Just curemus. What?

Pomfrey moved over to the bed next to me, straightening the sheets. "Well Mr Lupin came to drop you off some time yesterday morning, and a few of your classmates; Miss Anson, Miss Evans, Mr Lupin again, and Mr Black came by at varying hours today." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "You have about fifteen minutes until lunch if you would like to go to your dorm and freshen up."

Black? Bloody tosser. Thinks he can get back into my good books if he pretends he gives a doxy's arse. Well not on my watch!

But Remus came! _And my friends_ my subconscious offered. Well yes, thank you subconscious. BUT REMUS!

 _You need to sort out your priorities_ my subconscious advised.

Well thanks, subconscious, but you can shove off now.

"Come back just after dinner so I can give you another dose before you go to bed." Pomfrey helped me out of bed and with a pat on my back said, "now off you trot; freshen up, go to lunch and if your head is hurting make sure to rest. I've let all of your teachers know that you might not be in your best spirits, but it's Saturday so you should be feeling better by the time classes start again next week."

"Thanks, Madam Pomfrey!"

What a lovely lady. Honestly. We should make her head of Gryffindor, but I think McGonagall would complain. Maybe we should clone her and replace Pince. Now there's a good idea!

 **Saturday**

 **September 5, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

Well. Here I am. The Great Hall. Smack bang in the middle of everyone.

So I had firstly forgotten it was Saturday and had left my dorm after changing thinking it was Friday and everyone would be in class and I could go to lunch early and grab food and run before people with eyes and mouths showed up, but sadly, it didn't quite work out that way.

So I walked down and opened the doors and walked in - where most of the student body was eating lunch. I immediately made eye contact with Lily as I walked in, and sadly, it seems as if her staring was a virus, which seemingly infected the rest of the room in seconds.

It's weird, everyone talking and laughing with their friends and then bam. Nothing.

Then the whispering started. Everyone, left and right of me started whispering to their friends and pretending that they weren't all talking about me and my skanky antics.

Everyone just staring and whispering and staring and whispering and me not being mentally prepared to face this so I just stared at Lily who was slowly turning red, with Lottie looking at me, concerned.

A loud BANG suddenly distracted everyone from the poor Gryffindor standing in the doorway as Lily stood up on the bench, her wand spouting vague wisps of smoke. "Alright everyone, listen up! If you've got nothing better to do than gossip about people who may actually not have done what you think they did then I feel sorry for your sad, pathetic little lives! Get back to whatever lame conversation you were having!"

And just like magic, everyone went back to their conversations, fearing the wrath of the half-crazed head girl standing on the table with a smoking wand. I heard a quiet chuckle from professor's table. Thanks Dumbledore.

I slowly walked forward towards the others, ignoring the more than occasional glances in my direction. As soon as I neared Lily she jumped off the bench, walked over, grabbed my arm and dragged me over to sit between her and Lottie. Marley and Alice were on the other side of the table, shooting concerned smiles in my direction.

"What on earth happened to you?" Lily whisper-shouted, her eyes widening, making her already red face seem more frazzled.

"Well, I wasn't concentrating and so I just hexed him and then it all got so confusing and-"

"No Eva, we know about the mistake," Lily frowned.

"Yeah," Added Marley. "The whole of Gryffindor knows."

"And I talked to Frank and asked if he could spread the truth around the Hufflepuffs," Alice assured.

Good ol' Frank Longbottom.

"I mean with the hospital wing!" Lily asked. "What happened?"

"Yeah!" Echoed Lottie. "Pomfrey wouldn't tell us and the boys have been absent all yesterday and today."

"They have?" Weird. Yet they popped in to see me. Aren't I special! But seriously, weird.

"Yeah, but that's not important." Lily frowned and slung an arm around my shoulders. "What happened to your head? It was all bandaged when we came to visit."

"Oh." I frowned at the table. "Well there was a paperweight incident in Muggle Studies... and well..."

"A paperweight incident? What was Bunt doing?"

I winced. "Well she sort of.. um, well..."

Lily banged her fist on the table, making us all jump out of our skins. "You mean a professor did that?"

"Oh no," I quickly jutted in. "There was just an argument and the levitation ratio got confused and the student in question lost control. And I was too frazzled to react."

That reminds me. Remus. Damn him and his timing.

"Frazzled?" Asked Lily, the corners of her mouth turning down. Almost immediately after they lifted into a smirk. "Remus?"

I couldn't help but blush from embarrassment. "He just told me-"

I glanced up to see Marley and Alice looking at me in earnest.

"Uh."

Marley glanced at Lily before quickly saying, "We know about your thing for Remus, Eva. You don't need to hide it."

BLOODY LILY.

I narrowed my eyes in Lily's direction but she held her hands up in defense saying, "They worked it out for themselves, Eve, it's not your best kept secret."

It's not my.. what?

Wait.

Does that mean other people know?

"Do other people know?" I asked, hushing my voice and glancing around me.

"How would I know?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "I can't say anything for definite but some people may have suspicions. You're not the most subtle person around."

Bloody hell.

Lottie, ever efficient, glanced at her watch. "Uh, guys, you may want to eat something, we've only got five minutes left of lunch."

Great.

I grabbed two cucumber sandwiches and a plate of roast beef and ignored any further talk from the girls in order to eat my fill... I hadn't eaten since dinner on Thursday, seeing as I skipped breakfast to hide yesterday and then had to, well, be knocked out until recently.

 **Saturday**

 **September 5, 1977**

 **The Black Lake**

So after lunch I told Lily and Lottie that I was just going to go up to my dorm to have a nap, but really I wanted to come down to the lake and just sit for a bit with my diary.

On the way down I heard no less than twenty-seven people say my name, and also three more rumors, that upon hearing them, had me jumping for joy.

Not.

So apparently I'm pregnant with Black's twins, and the reason I was in the hospital wing is because I started having contractions, had an early birth, and consequently, a miscarriage. Fun.

I'm also supposed to be eloping with him as of now, which is why we've both been missing.

And on top of that, I've also developed over ten STD's and a foot fetish.

So it turns out I've really got my work cut out for me in the next day or so to fix this. At least Frank Longbottom shot me a smile as he earnestly told some of his friends the real story. The antler one.

And speaking of rumors, I can't believe I'm known as a stuck up prude?! I am far from stuck up! Maybe I should fail a class.

HA!

Yeah right!

Maybe I should get a boyfriend?

WAIT, THAT'S BRILLIANT.

HOLY MERLIN THAT'S BRILLIANT EVA!

If I get a boyfriend then people will stop thinking that I'm a prude, and well they sort of go together, so if I get a boyfriend that is sort of well, rough around the edges then people will assume that I'm not stuck up! Actually, it might be a terrible idea. I don't want a boyfriend unless it's Remus.

Su

Sorry, the wind turned my page and my quill smudged. Oh look! I can see one of the giant squid's tentacles!

This is actually a really nice spot. I'm sitting just a bit away from the Black Lake, down next to the Forbidden Forest, on the opposite side of Hagrid's hut. It's really quiet, and the lake is just lapping gently, and there's a slight breeze which is kind of annoying but if I- wait a sec.

I just moved a bit back into the forest, and I'm leaning against a tree trunk and so the wind blocked by the trees.

There is literally no one around - where is everyone?

Like it's literally dead silent. I'll probably reread this years from now and just picture this moment. The silence, the water. No stress.

It's perfect.

MERLIN'S PANTS, BLACK.

It's no longer perfect.

My view is obstructed with an UNATTRACTIVE, INCREDIBLY UGLY person.

He's maybe 200 yards back, but he's coming down the hill on my left - I don't know if he can see me or not but regardless, I'm ignoring him.

Okay wait I can see him looking... looking... looking... bloody hell, he's seen me.

If only I was an animagus. Like an eagle or something. Then I could just fly away.

He's getting closer, like fifty yards now. I'm just going to hex him as soon as he gets here. That way he won't be able to talk to me.

Thirty yards.

Twenty.

Ten.

He's coming into the forest, smiling. What nerve! I'm purposely only looking at him out of the corner of my eye, and I very subtly have my wand out. Well now's as good a time to practice my non-verbal spells as any.

 _Silencio._ Nothing.

"Hi, Bishop."

 _Silencio._

Black went to say something but instead his mouth started opening and closing like a fish and he grabbed his throat.

"Black."

He narrowed his eyes and stormed over to me, his wand out, but I was ready.

He pointed his wand at me and then used his other arm to point at his throat.

"Got something caught in your throat eh, Black?"

He glared at me.

"Yeah. Just like I apparently did," I muttered under my breath, but apparently Black heard it as he attempted to laugh, but just ended up choking on air.

Serves him right for laughing at my misfortune.

Black kept glaring but when it became apparent that I was going to keep ignoring him he fumbled around in his pockets until he pulled out a piece of parchment and then ripped my quill out of my hands.

BLOODY HELL!

He furiously scribbled and held out the parchment which read:

 _EVELYN BISHOP GIVE ME MY VOICE BACK! LET ME TALK TO YOU! STOP BING SO BLOODY RUDE!_

I narrowed my eyes. "You misspelled being."

He looked at the parchment, rolled his eyes and quickly scribbled in an 'e' and held it out again.

Meh. Might as well hear him out. I could always hex him again. I muttered the counter charm and he let out a breath and threw my quill at me.

"Merlin's beard, Bishop, touchy much?"

Well he's just- I narrowed my eyes. "I'll hex you again Black."

He held up his hands in defense and took a step back. Good.

He took another step back and sat down against the tree, stuffing the parchment back into his robe. He sat there for maybe another twenty seconds before he said anything. "I heard you got hit with a paperweight."

"How did you know where I was?" I asked. Obviously I would ask that. What a stalker.

His hand drifted to his other pocket and he stalled for a second before replying, "I asked Lottie."

Weird. I didn't tell Lottie where I was going. Maybe she found my empty bed and guessed where I was?

"Hm."

"How's your head?" He tried again.

What was this? Why was he asking me this? Since when has he ever cared about my well-being? Maybe I should just get straight to it and vocalise my thoughts. "Since when have you ever cared a smidgen about my well-being, Black?"

His brows furrowed in confusion. "Since what?"

"You can stop pretending you give a doxy's arse about me, Black, you've already ruined my life once, I don't need you to do it again."

His face contorted and he looked almost... hurt?

Not that I care. Of course.

Well he did come to visit me in the hospital wing. Maybe this is all part of some elaborate prank?

Within seconds though his eyes narrowed, his face brightened and he stood up, brushing off his robes.

"Hey Evelyn?" He asked.

"Yeah?"

"Will you snog me for twenty galleons?"

I threw a rock at his retreating back.

 **Saturday**

 **September 5, 1977**

 **The Gryffindor Common Room**

So I've recently discovered what the marauders have been up to all day. Stupid bloody pricks.

I got back up to the castle after accidentally falling asleep at the lake and waking up halfway through dinner, so naturally I rushed back for some food.

Upon entering the Great Hall I wasn't greeted with the stares and whispers I still wasn't used to, but instead a bunch of disgruntled Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws, Gryffindors and Slytherins laughing amongst themselves.

Lily saw me and ran up to me, beaming. "Eva, come on, come on, you'll never guess what happened!"

She dragged me over to where she was sitting with Lottie, Alice and Marley across from them and the four marauders to their left. I sat on Lily's right, away from Black who was shooting me smirks across the other side of the table.

Lottie's face looked red from laughter and she was talking to Peter and looking conspiratorial. "So, what happened?" I asked, naturally.

Lily grinned. "This afternoon, after you went to sleep, a bunch of fireworks went off in the Hufflepuff common room. It was a ruckus!"

"Yeah," Alice piped in. "Frank told me that he was the one that let them in! I feel so, like, powerful! I'm dating a daredevil!"

"Who is them?"

As soon as I asked that I realised what a stupid question that was. It was the boys, of course.

"That would be our handy work," James grinned, laughing at a Hufflepuff with half his hair missing. "But you should be thanking us," he said. "Now no one is talking about your accident!"

Oh.

Um.

Should I thank them?

"No need to thank us, Evelyn," Black grinned, leaning towards me over Marley's shoulder.

I narrowed my eyes. Arrogant prick.

"Actually, now that I think about it, you can thank us!" Black looked particularly evil as he said this.

"By asking Dumbledore if he can swap you to Slytherin?"

Black's face darkened for a split second before he replied. "No, actually Bishop, I'll change it back to fifteen galleons again, and we can snog!"

Marley choked on her pumpkin juice. "What?"

Black grinned. "You haven't heard?"

Marley shook her head, her eyes bulging.

Alice's eyes lit up. "You haven't finally started dating have you? It's about time!"

I'm sorry, what?

Black looked taken aback before quickly composing himself. "Actually James is paying me thirty galleons if I can get a snog in with darling Evelyn here."

Alice laughed, "That shouldn't be difficult."

I looked at her, aghast. "Yes it bloody well will be!"

Alice narrowed her eyes as Black and then looked at me, as if trying to read something, before finally sighing and just saying, "Oh."

"Well I'm going to eat now if you don't all mind. Dinner's nearly over." I spooned some potatoes onto my plate and ignored them for the rest of dinner.

Afterwards I felt particularly tired so I decided to head up to bed. It had been a busy day of sleeping and stressing. I waved goodbye to Lily and Lottie who had decided to go play wizard's chess in the library, and headed upstairs. Weird. Lily hates wizard's chess.

I got changed, tidied my bed, which, mind you, had barely been slept in lately and was looking awfully good. I pulled the covers back and slipped my feet in.

I had barely been in for three seconds before I felt something slimy moving against my leg. I shrieked, jumped out of bed and pulled my covers back to find two large slugs that had seemingly been living in my bed!

And how did they get there?

No guesses as to who!

BLOODY BLACK! BLOODY GIT BLOODY TOSSER BLOODY BLACK!

And that's how I ended up here in the common room, writing this before I got to sleep on the couch next to the fireplace.

Wish me luck diary.

 _Good luck Eva._

Thanks.

 _ **AN:**_ **A new chapter! Thanks everyone who has liked or added my story, and people that comment! It means a lot!**

 **The casting today is Carey Mulligan as Alice Sturnam, who in case there is confusion, is pre-Longbottom Alice. I didn't know her maiden name so I made one up (:**

 **Please vote, it'll only take a second! Thanks for reading! OXO**


	6. Why it's Called the Forbidden Forest

**Sunday**

 **September 6, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

I woke up this morning with a pillow under my head and a blanket over my back whilst sleeping on the couch by the fire in the Gryffindor Common room.

Despite my annoyance with Black and the rest of the bloody prat trio (quadruplet? What was Remus' involvement with my bed problem?), I couldn't help but feel happy that someone had thought to leave a blanket and a pillow for me. It did, however, leave another mystery; I didn't recognise either of the items.

Anyway, I was woken up by a group of raucous second-year boys stomping down the stairs, so I might have hexed them. Only a little bit. The tails should disappear in an hour or so. I hope.

I folded the blanket up and placed it on top of the pillow and ripped a piece of parchment out of my diary (which I had placed in between the couch pillows) and wrote: Thank you for the blanket and pillow. P.S. Keep doing whatever you're doing that makes them smell like that.

Maybe it was a bit stalkery but that's only a minor detail. If they felt compelled to be all Hufflepuff, then they will have to accept my stalkerish tendencies.

So now I'm down in the Great Hall at the normal breakfast time, which is weird because I normally wake up early, but I'm here with Lily and Lottie and we have plans to go into the forbidden forest this afternoon, after we've done some of our homework.

"So why were you asleep on the couch?" Lily asked with a raised eyebrow as soon as I made an appearance."

"Yeah," Lottie added with a mouth full of eggs, "why weren't you up in the dorm?"

I plonked down on the bench and folded my arms across my chest. "Someone thought it would be a good idea to leave slugs in my bed."

Lottie wrinkled her nose. "Gross."

"Potter and Black of course." Lily rolled her eyes. "Predictable."

"Very."

"Well, today is a day to forget all of that!" Lily smiled. "I've planned it accordingly. First, we have breakfast. Second, we have more breakfast. Third we- wait, Eva, you don't have quidditch practice today do you?"

No. Thank bloody goodness.

"Potter wants us to practice during weekdays. The first game isn't for a couple of months yet, so no Sunday practices."

Bloody Potter and his bloody quidditch schedule. Last year our captain made us practice every day for a week leading up to the Gryffindor-Slytherin match. We won, but still!

"Okay, good." Lily smiled. "I wouldn't put it past him to schedule a practice today."

"Me either," I muttered.

"So after breakfast?" Asked Lottie, still with a mouthful of eggs. I swear, she literally only eats eggs. Eggs and more eggs.

"After breakfast, we go up to our dorm and straighten out, seeing as Eva here has had absolutely no chance to do so yet. First week and she's already shagged someone and been sent to the bloody hospital wing."

"I uh, I actually didn't shag anyone."

Lily waved her hand in the air, attempting to shush me. "Irregardless, we need to sort out our stuff, and then we'll grab some work, you missed out on transfiguration, ancient runes, herbology and divination on Friday by the way, so you'll need to catch up on that, and I'm assuming you haven't done any actual homework yet, so we have a lot to cover." She stopped for a split-second to breathe. "And then we'll have lunch and then go back to the library and then when our work is finished, and only then, will we head off to the forest. And then dinner. And bed."

"Second breakfast it is then." Lottie smiled, reaching for some eggs.

Second breakfast? Last time I checked we weren't hobbits. But then again, I'm still hungry, so I shouldn't complain. Bacon, come to mama.

 **Sunday**

 **September 6, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Dorm**

Our dorm probably has the most personality of all the dorms in the whole of Hogwarts' history.

Lottie has absolutely covered her entire section of wall with moving pictures of the Phoenix Fiends. Personally, I don't see what the fuss is with them. It's just another classic boyband. The bass guitarist, however, is pretty cute (but Lottie shall never know).

I've covered my walls with posters of Puddlemere United, which makes sense, seeing as I'd like to play for them one day. After that, I think I might retire and then go work for the ministry. As an auror or something.

Mum wants me to do the least dangerous thing possible, which sadly means I can't be a dragon trainer.

But anyway, Puddlemere United! Amazing right? Not only have they won the British and Irish cup at least twenty times, they've also managed to take home the European cup at least twice! They're bloody brilliant!

As well as the quidditch posters (including a signed one from Jocelin Wadcock) I have a few moving photographs of my mum, dad and me, and also a couple of Lottie and Lily from our early Hogwarts years.

Lily's got posters of the Holyhead Harpies, the all-girls team, which I used to really like because I wanted to join, but seeing as my name doesn't start with a G, I think I'm automatically disqualified from the running. Therefore, Puddlemere United! And besides, it's Dumbledore's favourite team, so that must mean something, right?

OKAY SO ROOM EXPLANATION DONE (plus the mass amount of stuffed animals and Selene's cage and the pile of books that stays constantly under/on/around/within/etc my bed). Why do I bother writing down this sort of boring information in my diary? Well, it's obviously so that when I'm rich and famous I have proof of my dedication to sporting teams and so that my numerous fans can try and be like me.

Lottie's just slowly but surely arranging her total of exactly seventeen pillows in the most aesthetic way she can. Slowly.

So I'm writing this until we do homework (fun fun fun fun fun).

 **Sunday**

 **September 6, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Common Room**

WHY DO I HAVE SO MUCH BLOODY WORK TO DO IT'S ONLY BEEN A WEEK!

McGonagall must have it out for me after apparently, and I quote, "staining the Gryffindor name," (heard by the ever quiet and sneaky Lottie whilst accidentally falling through a doorway which was pretending to be a part of the wall), as I already have to write a two foot essay on the correct way to effectively transfigure a marble bust of Gord the Grim into a toucan, and how to avoid accidentally transfiguring it into a sexually suggestive soap carving (a mistake often practiced by the marauders).

Lets not even mention the exact count of thirty-three runes that I have to translate, and start a diary on the placement of Jupiter and its effects on the mating rituals of centaurs for this month in divination.

Cry.

OUCH! Lily just hit me on the arm with my Ancient Runes textbook!

I'll write later.

 **Sunday**

 **September 6, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

We're currently eating lunch, and I'm doing my best to ignore the suggestive winks coming from the direction of Sirius Black.

Doesn't he know that no matter what he does, I will never snog him? I cringe just thinking about it. Not that I am thinking about it. Well, I am. But, well, you know what I mean.

Wait, he's whispering something to Potter, and now they're sharing conspiratorial glances and looking back at Lily, Lottie and me.

Hey, ignoring the ever annoying glances of the bloody prat duo, I really should work on doing that thing I was thinking about doing before I was viciously attacked by Black during my small spell of serenity by the lake.

No, seriously, if Remus is so incredibly certain of my stuck-up prudeness, I can't take that reputation with me into the world! I have to do something to reverse this, which could mean doing skanky things (cringe) or getting another boyfriend. Alas, there isn't actually a suitable people-pool to pick from. I mean, the obvious choice is Remus himself, but due to our pre-paperweight conversation, I'm concerned that it may not work out as I would have liked. (But let's not talk about that). All of the Slytherins are out of the question, obviously, because who would want to date Snape or Nott or Avery or Bulstrode? Bloody evil tossers, the lot of them.

Due to my recent encounters with the Hufflepuffs, I would like to stay clear of them. For obvious reasons. The only Ravenclaw I can think of is Hol Buggery (I should really learn the names of the other Ravenclaws shouldn't I) (oh wait there's the other Ravenclaw prefect, Hollie Hindeburg, but she's not really eligible for boyfriend material, is she) and he's a tosser, so. As you can see, darling diary, the options are limitless!

Agh.

Martin-George McGonagall (twunthead) just tapped me on the shoulder and told me that McGonagall needed to see me immediately. Golly goodness, he's a messenger boy too now?

 **Sunday**

 **September 6, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

I quickly told Lily and Lottie where I was going, much to Lily's displeasure, and gave Black a friendly (not really) shove on the way out, which apparently gave him caused to yell things such as, "sexual tension," and, "playing hard to get" and the like, causing me to exit the great hall more speedily than I believe I have since the disaster of '75 (which shall never be mentioned again. Ever.).

McGonagall's door is kind of intimidating now, seeing as the last time I saw it she was giving me detention for two weeks. Detention! I was supposed to have that last night!

I was just about to knock when McGonagall said from behind the door, "Come in, Miss Bishop."

Creepy.

McGonagall is scary at the best of times.

"Now, Miss Bishop," McGonagall said over her glasses (which makes a lot of sense in my head, thank you very much). "You must be wondering why I called you here, and if you assume it is because of the events of the other night, then you assume correctly."

Merlin's pants!

"No need to get your hippogriff in a twist, Miss Bishop, and you can sit down if you'd like." McGonagall gestured to the chair in front of her desk. "I have merely been informed of a different form of events that occurred, quite dissimilar to the events that I was previously informed of." She raised her eyebrows. "

She'd been what? But who told her? And why would she believe them?

"Whahyet?" I managed to eloquently splutter out.

"Bishop," she sighed. "You and I are normally on quite good terms, and I hate to let your good name be tarnished, but we must uphold the standards at this school by quickly disciplining." She frowned at the papers on her desk. "I have, however, been assured by various members of your year that what our efficient librarian witnessed could possibly have been.. false, _and,_ I must admit I'm quite pleased, as I didn't think I was such a terrible judge of character."

BLOODY BRILLIANT!

"Oh, yes, Professor McGonagall. It isn't at all what Pince said! I tried to explain on the night, well, you were there, and I couldn't really get a word in edgeways."

She peered at me over the rims of her glasses. "That may be true, Miss Bishop, but there was still an incident involving antlers, or so I've been told."

"Oh. Yes. Well you see, Black crept up on me and I was rather surprised-"

"Do you make a habit of hexing people when you are surprised?"

Bloody hell. "Er... Well, sometimes, but-"

"Sometimes, Miss Bishop?" McGonagall looked unimpressed.

"Uh- Almost never." Black really needs to stop creeping up on me.

"Hmm." She looked back at her desk and flipped back through some papers. "Well as much as you'd like your detentions to be removed, I'm afraid your actions still warrant a detention. In fact, in order to keep an essence of authority around the prefects, I won't be removing any detentions from your schedule. I decided to let you have the night off yesterday due to your unfortunate incident in Muggle Studies, but I expect you to turn up to the trophy room at 8 pm sharp tonight, and for the next two weeks. I hate to make an example of you, but these things must be done if we are to show our younger students that prefects are people to look up to. I would also ask you to inform Mr Black of the time and place."

Cringe.

"Do you have an issue with that, Miss Bishop?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow.

"I uh, well, feel as if my talents would be better put to use without the presence of Black, Professor."

"That might be so, but I'm afraid someone needs to keep him in line, and I can't put him in another detention with Potter."

"But well, the thing is, he didn't actually do anything, so I don't really see why I need to spend any time with him in detention, Professor.

McGonagall stood up, walked passed me and held the door open. "Well, I'm positive he needs detention for something or other. Now go enjoy the rest of your afternoon Miss Bishop, and remember to pass on the message to Mr Black."

Great.

I left and went back to lunch, obviously muttering obscenities under my breath. I blame this all on Martin-George. Bloody tosser.

I quickly walked over to Lily and Lottie, who shuffled over to let me sit down. "What on earth was that about?" Asked Lottie, still eating eggs.

"McGonagall knows about the antlers thing but I still need to go and do detention with Black for two weeks." I glanced down the table to see him and the marauders conspiring about something or rather. "I'm supposed to tell him."

"Ahh," Lily leaned back and shook her hair. "That sucks royal hippogriff, Eva."

It more than sucks royal bloody hippogriff.

"So are you going to tell him?"

We all looked towards the marauders, who for some bizarre reason, all turned and looked at us. It's actually rather offputting how in sync they are. We quickly looked away.

"Just go tell him, Eva," Lottie encouraged (well, attempted to). "Surely it can't be that bad."

"It's Sirius Black," Lily said. "Of course it's that bad! If I had to do detention with Potter I would absolutely die."

"Thanks for the encouragement, Lil."

Lily beamed.

"My pleasure, now go on up there so that we can go do some centaur hunting!"

Lottie looked alarmed. "We're gonna what?"

"I was kidding Lottie." She gave me a slight shove. "Now off you go!"

I was so distracted I almost walked past him, and so instead tripped, almost fell on my feet, and grabbed the shoulders of a nearby Hufflepuff to steady myself.

"How's it going, Eva?" Asked Remus, ever the kindly one. (Bless his soul).

I steadied myself and turned to face the bloody prat trio and kindly soul. "Well pretty good, aside from the fact that I have an eight-o-clock detention with Black here for the next two weeks."

Black beamed.

Tosser.

"Well I was wondering when that was going to start, Evelyn dearest," he said. "Where are we to have our first date?"

"The trophy room."

Remus raised an eyebrow. Black grinned. I left the great hall as quickly as humanly possible.

 **Sunday**

 **September 6, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Dorm**

It would be awfully nice of someone if they could come up into my dorm and kill me. Slitting my throat would be too messy, and it's illegal to use an unforgivable curse, so maybe- Oh yes! I will digest a lot of metallic items and then let a niffler in and it will rip me to shreds in an attempt to get to the gold! Actually that might be rather painful. Remind me later to plan my death.

On a different note, I have now worked out I can put pictures of myself in my diary. Excellent. I love these moving wizard photos! Poor muggles.

Oh, here come Lily and Lottie!

 **Sunday**

 **September 6, 1977**

 **The Forbidden Forest**

THE FORBIDDEN FOREST IS JUST PLAIN CREEPY!

It's raining now so we're hiding under a tree because I forgot my wand in the dorm and neither Lottie or Lily can do an umbrella charm to save their life.

After the embarrassing turn of events in the great hall, Lottie and Lily rushed after me and we decided to go straight to the forest, and in my haste, I left my wand on my bed.

The thing about the forbidden forest is that it's really dark and gloomy. It might be noon in the middle of summer and you'll still strain your eyes trying to see.

"It's awfully pleasant in here, isn't it," said Lily, squinting her eyes.

"Well actually, the thing is," Lottie mumbled, "it's really not. Why are we here again?"

"For adventures, Charlotte!" Lily thrust out her wand and waved it around aimlessly. "There's all sorts of things in the forest!"

"Like centaurs and unicorns," I added. By golly, I do hope we run into a unicorn!

Lottie shuddered. "I've heard there's acromantula in here too."

"Well lucky thing we have our wands then!" Said Lily.

I felt my back pocket. I felt my front pocket. I felt that pocket that's in an inconvenient place. Bloody hell! "Good thing you have your wands, you mean."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asked Lottie.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised you don't have your wand, Eva? Well you better make sure you can throw a punch or two before we-" Lily paused, cocking her head to the side. "Do you two hear that?"

"Hear what?" Asked Lottie.

"Shush, you two. Follow me." Lily tiptoed off to the left, away from the path.

"What's going on, Eva?"

"Buggered if I know," I replied. What on earth had gotten into Lily? We followed her anyway, tiptoeing into the trees. We were a fair way into the forest now, and it was nearing late afternoon. The trees, although harmless (probably) (hopefully), were looming oddly over our heads. Suddenly, I could hear it. Voices.

Lottie spun around and grabbed my arm, her eyes wide and her head bobbing frantically in the direction Lily was walking away from us. "Hurry up," I hissed and we quickly caught up before Lily held out her arm to stop.

We ducked behind a bush and peered through the leaves. It was hard to make out who they were, but the people on the other side seemed to be having an argument.

"You said it would be easy!" A voice said, pushing one of the figures in the chest.

"Give it a rest, Bulstrode," said the nasal voice of Ervyn Avery.

Bulstrode and Avery? Lily looked at me with wide eyes. Lottie looked as if she were about to say something but I clamped a hand firm over her mouth before she could.

"I swear, I tried, guys, it's just, he doesn't like me very much!" Said a third voice. "And even if he did, he keeps it locked up in his office, and I don't know the spells he uses to unlock it. I'm terrible at charms!"

"But you're a Ravenclaw," said, who I presumed to be, Bulstrode.

"And I'm bloody smart, just not at charms!" Said the Ravenclaw.

"Well then be bloody smart," Avery stood up and moved closer to the Ravenclaw, backing him up against a tree, "And work it bloody out! You have two weeks, and then we're doing it our way."

"I told you, I'm trying!"

"Erv, it's getting towards dinner time, and Michael and Severus are expecting us," said Bulstrode, trying to see the sun through the gloom.

"Wait five minutes before following us, or you'll be sorry." Avery turned away and with a flick of his wand, muttered something illegible, causing a branch to break and fall down, a foot away from the Ravenclaw.

Then they left, not five feet from our hiding spot, making me wish we'd cast a disillusionment spell. Lily turned her head to face us, and motioned to the ground, where she'd scrawled in the dirt.

 _Wait until Hol leaves, and then we'll go in a different direction. Don't say a word._

Hol? Hol Buggery? As in the bloke who got sent to the hospital wing after getting attacked (it was brutal) in the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff game? He probably hates the Slytherins as well as the Hufflepuffs now. I must, however, admit, that despite being a bit of a tosser he's quite good looking.

Oh, he's on the move! I think if I move to the left I can see hi- yep, oh, wait, he's heard me.

Damn it Eva. Lily's looking at me with death in her eyes. Okay, he's leaving, and he's gone.

We wait in silence for another five minutes, just in case, until Lottie finally falls on her back, whimpering, "Cramp! Merlin's pants my foot hurts!"

She sits there rubbing her foot whilst Lily turns, looking awfully confused. "What on earth do you think that was about?"

"Why should I know? Should we tell McGonagall?"

"I'm not sure. Let's hold off for a bit until we can work out what's going on."

Damn. It's started to rain.

So that brings us to now, me madly scribbling in my diary, and Lily and Lottie doing their best to shelter the paper from the rain. Okay, I've written it all, so we're going to head back, get changed, and then eat dinner! (Poor Lottie, there's no eggs at dinner time).

 ** _AN:_** **Yo guys thanks for reading! A bit of banter at the end there, so please tell me in the comments any conspiracies you're thinking up (:**

 **Thanks again! XX**


	7. How to Not be a Cliche

**Monday**

 **September 7, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

I'm sitting in the great hall, rather unhappily, I might add, all by my lonesome at the end of the Gryffindor table. Far (yet too close for comfort) to my left, I can see Black sitting across from Dorcas, in _my_ rightful spot, so obviously, I am pretty annoyed. Merlin's fluffy knickerbockers, I can see them laughing conspiratorially at me!

I had detention with Black last night, and let me tell you, it was terrible. He spent the whole time trying to talk to me, which was awful, and I spent the whole time effectively ignoring him (aside from asking _why,_ after all the detentions he's had, he can't polish a bloody trophy correctly, which then led to me telling him exactly _where_ he could stick his rag), but anyway. I am not looking forward to our rendezvous, or as he affectionately refers to it, our date tonight.

Oh! Here comes Mark Abery, the hot fifth year that I have a niggling suspicion my precious Charlotte has a small crush on. I couldn't say why he's coming over, but, oh, look, he's going to sit down. I'm not complaining. I hope he doesn't mind if I write and talk.

"Hi, Evelyn is it?" He asks as he sits down next to me.

"That's Miss Bishop to you, Mark Abery," I say, attempting to bring out my inner McGonagall. It's a well-known fact that within every Gryffindor there is a McGonagall just waiting to burst out.

He looks surprised. "Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Bishop, I, uh, didn't realise that-"

"Settle down, settle down. I'm pulling your leg." Works every time. "It's just Eva."

He smiles awkwardly, "Oh, okay then, just Eva. I would introduce myself but it would seem as if you already know my name...?"

Ahh. Probably should avoid mentioning that every single female in the school (McGonagall and Pince excluded) (most likely) has thought about how beautiful his face is at least once.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, Mark?"

"Oh," he says, grabbing a plate and pulling some toast onto it. "Well I've been struggling a bit with some of the charms we've been learning, and so I asked Flitwick if he could tutor me, but he said that I should ask you if you would be able to do so."

"Did he indeed?" Flitwick, you beautiful elf.

"I'm terribly sorry to just ask you this out of the blue, and it's alright if you've got better stuff to do, I know I would, but I've got it in my head that I want to be an auror when I leave Hogwarts, and to do that I need to get at least an E in my OWL, and so it would be terribly good of you to help out at all. The professor said you were the best."

I absentmindedly glanced to my left, to see Black staring at Mark with narrowed eyes and Dorcas laughing at him. It seems she's gotten over the mucus incident then.

"Uh, um, Eva?"

Ahh yes, Mark. "Sure, Mark. I could help you out, with such a compelling argument and all."

He starts to spread plum jam onto his toast. "You would? That would be bloody fantastic! Oh, pardon me, sorry. That would be really great!"

What a gentleman! Black should take lessons from this fine specimen of a human being. How sad that hanging out with Remus hasn't rubbed off on him. "No problem. Do you want to owl me what you need help with and I'll tell you when I'm free. I just got out of the hospital wing, you see, and I have a wee bit more work to do than usual."

"Oh yes," said Mark. "I'd heard you got hit." He blushed, "I, uh, well hate to ask this, but I also heard that-" He suddenly stopped abruptly at the sight of something over my left shoulder.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?"

I don't need to turn around to know who it is.

"Black, haven't we already spent enough time together? I'm awfully tired of your presence after last night."

Mark suddenly goes red.

Merlin's bloody pink bloomers why does this always seem to happen to me?

Black snorts, sitting down beside me. "So who are you?" He asks Mark.

"Mark Abery." He says.

"Well it's bloody good to meet you, Mark," Black says, his mouth curling oddly at the ends. "I'm Sirius Black, of the Black family line, rogue Gryffindor, member of the marauders." He stops to let this supposedly impressive introduction sink in. "And this here, my friend, this marvellous marble-mouthed specimen of a human, is out of your league."

Bloody hell, Black! What sort of game do you think you're playing at? I am certainly not marble-mouthed! I have perfect control over both my marbles and my mouth! (It's Lily you've got to look out for).

I think Mark's skin is showing a dangerous resemblance to a tomato around about now. I decide to save him the pain of speaking to the immature seventeen-year-old in front of him and hit Black on the back of his head. I can hear laughter coming from the Dorcas end of the table.

"Ouch, Bishop! You do know this could be registered as child abuse in the muggle world!"

"More like animal abuse," I shoot back. He narrows his eyes. "You know what Black, I hate you with the fiery passion of a thousand suns," I say, getting up to go sit with Dorcas, leaving Mark looking awfully surprised and Black vaguely confused.

Black recovers faster than I would give him credit for and replies with, "Yeah? Well that's not the only fiery passion you have for me!"

Dorcas absolutely erupts with laughter and I decide to leave the Great Hall in lieu of staying near any of these people for another bloody second.

 **Monday**

 **September 7, 1977**

 **BLOODY POTIONS**

I must admit I'd forgotten about the potions fiasco until I walked into the classroom (debating the best way to eat eggs for breakfast with Lottie) and saw Lily's chagrined face sitting next to Potter at his potions desk. Directly in front of them was Black, grinning into a piece of parchment, the spot next to him, unfortunately empty.

My cauldron was dangling off of my arm and I had an awful urge to 'accidentally' whack him in the back of the head with it. Unfortunately, Slughorn walked in just as I was about to do the deed, and I realised that I really didn't need another detention. Also, unfortunately, Black seemed to have spotted me.

"Evelyn!"

Stupid git.

"Dearest Evelyn."

Bloody stupid git.

"Care to take a seat next to your new potions buddy? I made sure no one else took it. Wouldn't want anyone messing up the special thing we've got going on here."

Bloody stupid git-head Black.

I took my time shoving his parchment and books over to his side of the desk so that I could put mine down. I may have accidentally shoved a little too hard, causing his quill and cauldron to be briefly airborne. It's a lucky thing Potter caught the cauldron before it hit the ground and broke. Lucky for Black, I mean. I would have happily had his cauldron break if it meant that he wasn't able to participate in today's potions lesson.

"We have no _special thing_ , Black."

From somewhere around me I heard Potter whisper, "Sexual tension," to which Lily's reaction was a slap around the head and a huffy glare. Black shot Potter a funny look. Like he was constipated or something. It made his eyebrows look funny, anyhow.

"Whatever you say, Evelyn darling." Black taunted. (Yes, taunted).

I could murder that mutt. Or maybe set another nice pair of antlers on his noggin.

Slughorn proceeded to give a brief explanation of the steps involved in the making of today's potion, shrinking solution, some of which I thought may be beyond Black's capabilities, given that they required patience and a basic knowledge of colours and numbers.

"Are you going to cope with the amount of concentration required of you to brew this potion, Black?"

He looked at me with one raised eyebrow and said, "Are you gonna cope with the amount of sheer talent you are going to be working alongside for the rest of the year?"

Oh my flAMING HIPPOGRIFF, he is such an uppity prat. How on earth am I going to work with him without stabbing someone?

For the majority of the lesson, I ignored Black. The potion making was going fine, until Black put double the amount of lionfish spines than he was supposed to into it and blew up our desk, consequently knocking my cauldron and its contents to the ground. I was able to quickly cast a levitation spell to keep my cauldron from breaking, but no such luck for Black. Which is VERY unfortunate as it turns out, because now we have to use the same cauldron. MY cauldron. To brew a potion TOGETHER. Ugh. Why did this not occur to me before?

I notice Black doesn't seem too upset by this turn of events. Slughorn, however, looks exasperated. "Mr Black, ten points from Gryffindor. I expected something better of someone of your calibre."

So I'm writing this now whilst we wait for the potion to turn purple, which takes a long while apparently. And I'm making Black double-check with me every single ingredient he prepares is the required amount for the step we are going to do.

"Hey Evelyn," Black says, looking over my shoulder. "You wanna snog? I'll give you fifteen galleons!"

He is such a git.

"Twenty galleons?"

A total bloody idiot.

"Class," Slughorn says, hopefully interrupting Black's attempt to count to a number higher than twenty. "In preparation for your NEWTs at the end of the year, we shall be revising the potions that we went over last year. This means that tomorrow in our lesson we will look at some of these potions, and then on Thursday we will be making one of your choice. You better choose wisely, as the best potion will win thirty points for their house."

Damn. With Black I have no hope. At least we've got Lily. I look at her over my shoulder, and she seems pleased.

"For homework, write a one and a half foot essay on the effects of shrinking solution."

We all know what the bloody effects of shrinking solution is, Slughorn! It shrinks things! I think he's been eating a bit too much crystallised pineapple.

But anyway, it looks like the potion is verging on violet, and Black is trying to sneak looks into my diary, so I'm gonna leave it there.

 **Monday**

 **September 7, 1977**

 **DADA**

Black managed not to blow up our potion. How on earth he managed to get an E or above for potions in his OWL is beyond me.

I then had Ancient Runes which was really good because Remus sits next to me and we're still only translating basic runes. (I might have accidentally pretended I didn't know how to translate a couple so Remus could help me). (Lily punched me in the arm on the way to Defence Against the Dark Arts).

That's where I am now - Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lottie is doing some sort of special study with Professor Kettleburn (she wants to become a magizoologist when she leaves Hogwarts), so she's left Lily and me to the childish whims of the marauders.

However, it seems as if the boys, for all the outlandish confidence they exude on a daily basis, are fairly quiet when Professor Murphy starts to talk about werewolves. I couldn't tell you why.

I would normally be jumping for joy, except Remus seems to be looking a little ill, and, well, that's reason enough for me to feel slightly more subdued about the whole situation.

"Now students," Professor Murphy says. "Can anyone tell me five signs that identify the werewolf?"

It's a wolf. Fur? Sharp claws? A tendency to rip people apart?

Black lazily raises his hand in the air whilst it looks as if Potter and Peter stifle giggles.

"Mr Black?"

"Five signs, you say Professor? Well, that would be..." He counts them out on his fingers. "...a shorter snout than a normal wolf, a tufted tail, human-like eyes - pupils more specifically, _fur_ ," He glances at Remus, "and the fact that they are incredibly good-looking."

Remus snorts.

Murphy raises an eyebrow. "Would you like to repeat that last point again, Mr Black?"

Black grins. "Possibly the most _distinguishing_ feature of a werewolf, is that they are _incredibly_ good-looking."

I can't tell if Professor Murphy is annoyed or actually considering the idea.

"Well, I might have given you points if you hadn't added _most distinguishing._ Werewolves in their human form could be 'incredibly good looking,' as you put it, if they were born that way. Werewolves in their animal state, however, do have the characteristics you mentioned, but are decidedly not good looking creatures."

Well, what do you know?

Black looks surprised and slightly annoyed.

Remus looks well again.

Good job Murphy.

 **Monday**

 **September 7, 1977**

 **The Great Hall**

DADA finished without much incident, but I have just now realised that I have both quidditch practice and detention tonight, which means the Bloody Prat Duo have stolen my afternoons and evenings away from me. What's a girl to do?

It's lunch time now, thank Merlin, and Lily is asleep with her head on her arms. I have no idea why. Now that I think about it, Lily was awake when I woke up at one-ish, so maybe she couldn't sleep. Poor girl. Probably having nightmares about Potter.

Ooh look! There's Mark Abery. He's just smiled at me! I nudge Lottie and he smiles at her too and she blushes. Typical. I need to get Charlotte a boyfriend.

I'm eating a beef sandwich, and it's really excellent.

Super good.

I'm bored.

Maybe I should talk to someone?

Ugh, Lottie's started a conversation with Marley and Alice about the Phoenix Fiends, Lily's asleep, the marauders are nowhere to be seen (not that I would talk to them anyway), Dorcas is hanging with her sixth-year friends. Maybe I should get more friends? Like I don't even know who anyone else is. No, wait - there's a Ravenclaw called Elena Prinz, she's nice; she sits with Lottie in Care of Magical Creatures and she always smells good. She's sitting with Hol Buggery and that Hufflepuff girl that's almost-ish-not-really-I-hope as good as me at charms though so I can't approach her. Oh no, he's looking at me, Hol, that is. He's standing up? He's walking towards the Gryffindor table? He's-

Oh damn.

"Mind if I sit here, Eva?"

Yes, I do mind. "No, I don't mind."

Great. He's sat down.

"So, how're you going today?"

"I'm dandy. And, also, you know, out of interest, why did your mother, out of all the names out there, pick Hol?"

You know, for the life of me, I can't work out why I decided to start off a conversation by asking someone why their mother chose that name. Probably did it to throw him off guard, eh?

Imagine me, however, saying this with a lot of pauses. It probably took about thirty seconds for the entire sentence to come out of my mouth.

He looks quite confronted for a second and then purses his lips in annoyance. I kid you not, literally purses them. "It's short for Hollard. Hollard Eustace Buggery."

Well, Hollard's not so bad.

"Anyway, Eva, short for Evelyn, I was, uh," he pauses and looks around awkwardly, "wondering if you could assist with some charms work I'm struggling with."

Why do all of these people keep coming and asking me about help with charms? I must be building up a pretty good rep, eh?

"Depends on what sort of work."

Got to keep them on their toes, right?

"It's sort of, uh, complicated unlocking charms? I can't really seem to find any past _alohomora_ and I was wondering if you knew any stronger ones and how to use them."

Unlocking charms? What's he got to unlock? A fridge? A car? Actually, in hindsight, both his parents are wizards so he wouldn't know what a car is.

"What do you need to know for?"

"I, uh, well, I, uh, need to, uh, know, uh, because of an, uh, extra credit, uh, homework... thing, that I, uh, have to, uh, do for, my mum."

Wowzers.

That was believable. Oh well.

"Why can't you ask Flitwick?"

"I did," he says quietly, looking somewhere just to the left of my head, "but he said he was too busy and to ask you."

See, he just looks awkward. I couldn't tell you why.

But did he? Flitwick! What a lovely little elf-man. "Well there's stronger ones I guess, like _apertus_ and _agorinor._ But the wand work's a little tricky."

Except if you're me.

He stands up suddenly, as if someone was calling him with a dog whistle or something. "Thanks Eva. I'll be in touch," he says and then speed-walks out of the great hall.

Merlin's bloody cataracts that was a strange encounter.

 **Monday**

 **September 7, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Dorm**

I only have a few minutes to write this as I have to go to detention, but basically herbology and transfiguration passed without much incident, if you don't count Black transfiguring my left shoe into a love-heart shaped pillow and then not being able to change it back again, whilst on my foot, I might add. I don't think I'll ever get the fluff out of my pores.

Then I had dinner, and then quidditch practice, made okay only for the presence of Marley and Dorcas. I swear, I don't know how I'd survive without them, especially with bloody perfect-Potter as bloody quidditch captain.

I couldn't really tell, but I felt like he purposely tried to hit me with that bludger.

Anyway, I just got up here after having a shower in one of the prefects bathrooms, and I have about five minutes before I'm due for my detention in the trophy room with Black. Great.

 **Monday**

 **September 7, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Dorm**

Whoever invented the concept of detention was a bloody stupid idiot.

Whoever invented having detention with boys that hate you was a bloody bloody stupid idiot.

I left the dorm lickety split after I finished writing my last entry in my diary and guess who was waiting for me in the common room.

"Evelyn! Fantastic! I'll walk you to detention."

"I can walk myself, Black."

"Great. Then you can walk me too."

Stupid git.

I tried my best to ignore him but he kept telling me these atrocious jokes that were not funny whatsoever.

"Hey Evelyn, what did the wizard order at the hotel? Broom service!

Hey, hey, Evelyn, what kind of wizards have their eyes closest together? The smallest ones!"

Terrible. Simply terrible.

It took too short a time to get to the trophy room, where we were greeted by Filch who gave us some rags, a bucket of water, and strict instructions not to use magic, as he would be periodically checking in on us to make sure we were doing it right.

Filch left, leaving me alone with Black, who was pulling a piece of parchment out of his pocket. He whispered something to it and unfolded it, black lines, writing, and moving dots suddenly appearing on it.

"Hey Black? What's that?"

"Ssh," he whispered, waving a hand at me, "Filch is outside the door. Start scrubbing!"

For some reason, unbeknownst to my better judgement, I listened to him, picked up a rag and started polishing a trophy. Within seconds Filch had opened the door and popped his head in, narrowed his eyes at Black and 'hmmd,' then left.

As soon as Filch shut the door Black grinned and sat down, putting the parchment on the floor in front of him.

Naturally, I walked over to see what on bloody earth it was, and it looked like a map. A map of Hogwarts? And those dots - whoah, they're moving! Wait - they've got names on them- holy- holy hippogriff what is this magic?

"Pretty cool, huh," Black said, pointing his hand at two dots near the middle. "Look, that's us." I looked closer and I could see - in the trophy room, two dots reading Sirius Black and Evelyn Bishop. I could also see Filch walking away down the corridor.

"How did you get this, Black? Did you steal this? Does McGonagall know?"

Black frowned, folding up the map. "Hold on a sec there, Bishop. I don't _steal_ things. I made it. Well, James, Remus, Peter and I did anyway. And no, McGonagall doesn't know about it. Do you think we'd still have it if she knew about it?"

"Well, no, but how did you?"

"I'm smarter than you think I am Bishop. We all are. Except for Peter, maybe. He's got a couple screws loose, well at least I think he does. Although, anyone that does divination's probably got a couple screws loose anyway."

"I do divination!"

"I know you do, Evelyn," he grinned.

Rude!

"But how on bloody earth did you make it, Black?" I mean seriously! How on bloody earth did he make it?

"Can't tell you, I'm afraid. I've probably told you too much already. James might kill me if he finds out I've told you about the map"

He might? Merlin's shoelaces, what on earth inspired Black to show me this? Only one way to find out, I guess.

"Then why did you tell me, Black? Don't you hate me? Is this some plot to get Potter to kill me for knowing things I'm not supposed to?"

Black looks awfully shocked for a second. "I- what?"

Okay, maybe the Potter thing was a bit far-fetched.

"I don't, I don't hate you Eva, I, how on earth did you get that idea?"

He what? "Well you, you're always, you just, do those things, that you just do!" Eloquent as always. Black's probably put a hex on my mouth or something.

Well of course he hates me? Doesn't he? He picks on me, he always has? It's like Potter and Lily, aside from the fact that Potter obviously has a massive crush on Lily. I think so, anyway. Poor girl. But of course Black hates me!

"I honestly don't hate you, I've never hated you. I just.. well it doesn't matter. And I thought I would tell you because you can keep a secret. And I thought it would make detentions more interesting. And sometimes James is too cautious. And it's just a map, a bit of magic. It's cool. I thought you'd like it, I wasn't expecting you to go yell stupid things about me hating you.

"Well, just, go polish a trophy or something useful."

I didn't know how to react, I mean, Black was acting all strange. I just kind of stood up and started polishing trophies after that. He did too. We didn't talk at all for the rest of the detention.

As soon as Filch came to let us go I practically ran out of there. I still don't know why he showed me that map, or why what he said upset me. I'll talk with Lily and Lottie tomorrow and see what they think. They won't tell anyone about the map.

What was I bloody thinking, attempting to have an unsuperficial conversation with Black? The git drives me nutty!

 _ **AN**_ **: Hi everyone, thanks so much for reading! Thank you also to everyone who has newly started reading this, it means a lot!**

 **A double thanks to my friends who haven't judged me for writing this lol I have no regrets and a special thanks to Catriona for editing my work so I don't sound like an illegible fool. She also wrote the majority of the potions scene so I hope you enjoyed that!**

 **If you've enjoyed the chapter pleased comment ideas or tell your friends!**

 **Love you all oxo**


	8. The 'ACCIDENTAL I SWEAR' Incident

**Tuesday**

 **September 8, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Dorm**

It's six-thirty am, and Lily and Lottie are both still asleep, you know, like normal people. I need to go eat breakfast but I'm worried Black will be sitting with Dorcas and I don't really know if I'm ready for that kind of confrontation.

Food or confrontation? Which is more important?

My stomach is grumbling.

Food or confron-

Food.

Dammit.

Let's go.

 **Tuesday**

 **September 8, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Dorm**

This morning, oddly enough, passed without much incident. Well, a little incident.

I got to breakfast and naturally, Black was there, sitting across from Dorcas, so I went and sat to her left, attempting to avoid eye contact. Mark Abery smiled at me on the way there. Bless his handsome little soul.

I was expecting Black to be all awkward and grumpy after our awkwardly escalating conversation last night, but he acted as if it had never happened.

"Oh, hey, Evelyn," he said as I sat down. "Dorcas and I were just discussing the most effective way of shrinking one of Pomfrey's hospital beds so we could blow it up five times the size for when the Slytherins are practicing on the Quidditch field."

"It would be good," added Dorcas, "if you could make us some shrinking solution, as I'm rubbish at potions, and apparently Sirius here's gone and broke his cauldron."

I'd almost forgotten Black had a first name.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm not giving either of you any shrinking solution, as putting a massive bed on the Quidditch field is juvenile and pointless, so-"

"An excellent point, Evelyn," interrupted Black, quite rudely I might add, "the Slytherins can just use it as a safety precaution for when they fall off of their brooms."

"Well that's beside the point, I wasn't even trying to help you, and I wouldn't let you do anything to Pomfrey anyway, she's too good for your silly pranks."

"Hey, Sirius," Dorcas said with a strained smile, "I think the Slytherins need something sharper than a bed, and I know just the thing!"

"Merlin's bloody bikini, Dorcas, I reckon-"

"Eva's tone of voice might do the trick, eh, Sirius?"

Excuse me? EXCUSE ME?

"Or quite possibly the arches of her eyebrows, don't you think, Dorc, I mean they're getting pretty high and sharp."

"What about her voice? The higher it gets the sharper it is on the ears!"

"Well, that's brilliant! I'll let James know and we can try and work out how to bottle Bishop's voice, and-"

"Oh give it a bloody rest!"

The twenty-odd people in the great hall went silent. Oops?

"Don't get your hippogriff in a twist there, Evelyn," Black grinned.

"Yeah, Eva, it's too early in the morning for any hippogriff twisting," said Dorcas.

I thought it would be best to leave immediately.

 **Tuesday**

 **September 8, 1977**

 **Muggle Studies**

I have been informed by Lily, after arriving at DADA and ignoring any attempts by Black to contact me, that there is to be a party in the common room tonight, hosted by the Marauders.

This could mean one or two of a few things.

One, Black will get blind drunk, as he is prone to do, and make an inappropriate pass at a fifthy.

Two, Remus will see me dancing with some random seventh year Gryffindor boy- wait, scratch that, there's only the Marauders.

Two, Remus will see me dancing with Mark Abery, become insanely jealous, and propose to me on the spot.

Three, Potter will make a pass at Lily. Lily will kick him.

Four, Potter will make a pass at Lily. Lily will punch him.

Five, I will miss all of this because there will be fourth years at the party and I hate fourth years so I will stay in my dorm with Lottie.

Six, Martin-George McGonagall will do something weird.

Seven, I will embarrass myself in some way, shape or form.

Honestly, I'm hoping for two and six, but a girl can only hope, can't she.

I still am unaware as to why there's a party tonight, but hey, look who sits next to me in muggle studies! (On a side note, Bunt is avoiding all forms of eye contact).

"Hey, Remus, why're you throwing a party tonight?"

"Huh?" Remus looks up from his notebook, flicking his hair out of his eyes. I think my ovaries just imploded, but I guess I can't really be sure.

"Why is there a party tonight?"

He raises an eyebrow, "What party?"

Huh?

"The party you guys are throwing...?"

Remus groans and rolls his eyes. "Not again, dammit."

"Not again, dammit, what?"

Remus runs his fingers through my hair, wait no, his hair. Dammit subconscious. "James has this habit of sometimes doing things without actually running them by me first. Oh well, it should be good, as long as there's no one younger than fifth year there."

"Yeah, well, Lily told me they're letting the fourth-year's in."

"Damn. I hate those fourth-years."

Holy Merlin it's meant to be!

"Yeah, they're totally annoying."

Remus grins at me, "I know, right? Surely we were never that bad!"

"Well, I know I wasn't." It's true. I am pretty sure I never even had first to fourth year. Or fifth year. I just skipped straight to sixth. I was never a fifthy. Never!

Anyway.

"Well I know I wasn't that bad. You marauders were stomping around everywhere, reaping more havoc than bloody Peeves."

Remus laughs, "It's true, it's true. We weren't model students, or model people really. I like to think we're more mature now."

"Well you and Peter, yes. But Black? Potter? I don't think it's humanly possible."

Remus raises an eyebrow. "Have you met Padfoot and Prongs lately? We've only pulled one prank so far, and no-ones going around hexing anyone-"

"Potter hexed Lily on like the second-"

"Yeah well that's because it's James and Evans. It's what they do."

Remus seems bent on the idea that Black and Potter are 'changed' people. Yeah, right.

"And besides, if James was so bad then how'd he get to be head boy?"

Damn. He makes a vaguely passable point. Vaguely.

"Well that explains Potter, but Black is a bloody menace, let me tell you, pestering me about snogging and such and just being an average bloody pain in the-"

Remus snorts, cutting me off. "Yeah, but only to you, Eva."

What's that supposed to mean?

"What?"

"You haven't noticed he's only hounding you?" Remus, for some reason, pulls out a piece of parchment and starts writing on it. "Here, look, Eva."

He's written what seems to be a list on it. Remus seems to like his lists.

"So far this term, and keep in mind it's been over a week, Padfoot has only asked you to snog him, been given detention, because of you, I might add, pulled a prank in the Hufflepuff dormitory to help people stop talking about you, and," he quickly scribbles out the last thing on the list, "Ahh, never mind that one, it's uh, unrelated to you, and, well, you, being a prefect and all, probably shouldn't know about it."

"Remus, you do realise that you're a prefect too. And Potter's head boy."

A look of sudden realisation comes across his face, "Excellent point Eva." He grins, "I'm still not going to tell you though."

Like I would want to know anyway. It's probably to do with what Black and Dorcas were talking about this morning.

"My point being, is that he's barely done anything. This time two years ago I'd be telling you a completely different story."

Well I guess maybe he might possibly be maybe onto something. Maybe.

Regardless, I am unable to say anything else because Bunt interrupts our highly important conversation by doing that thing that professors do - assign a three foot essay.

Joy.

 **Tuesday**

 **September 8, 1977**

 **Potions**

I'd almost forgotten I had potions today. Unfortunately, Black had not forgotten or gotten himself into another accident, meaning he was already there in his 'spot' with an unfortunately sunny-looking disposition.

Remus and I walked from muggle studies after Bunt's long-winded explanation on the concept of electricity. Something, I already know about, thank you very much. Some idiot Hufflepuff asked if it was a type of fruit.

I sit down (quite reluctantly, I might add) next to Black, who is leaning back on his chair to talk to Potter about something. Lily is listening to the conversation with narrowed eyes - I'll need to ask her about it later.

Ugh. When Slughorn said that we'd be going over what we learnt last year, he meant literally, didn't he. On a desk in the middle of the classroom are all of the potions we learnt about at the beginning of last year - polyjuice potion, amortentia, veritaserum and draught of living death.

Merlin, we'll have to make one of them won't we.

With Black as my partner, the possibility of a positive experience coming out of this has about the same likelihood as that of Hol Buggery becoming a nice person.

"Class," says Slughorn, with a pointed look at the bloody prat duo. "Today, as I told you last lesson, we will be reviewing last years potions, in preparation for your NEWTs later this year." He pauses behind the desk with the potions. "Can anyone tell me the names of these potions?"

I can feel the breeze caused by Lily's arm lifting into the air behind me, and see Snape's arm lifting up at the same time.

As per usual.

Who said that Ravenclaws were the smartest? They were wrong.

Slughorn picks Snape. I'm assuming he's trying to shake it up a little. He usually picks Lily.

Wait a second - I know what the potions all are - I could have put my hand up. Merlin, Eva.

Anyway, Snape lists them all correctly, yada yada yada, Slughorn asks how to identify them all, Lily answers, a point for Slytherin, a point for Gryffindor, you know the drill.

"In your pairs I want you to pick a potion that you will be making on Friday."

Black, surprisingly, perks up at this.

"Remember, the winner will receive thirty points for their house. Each"

Well we're not going to win a doxy's left buttock let alone thirty points each.

"After you've picked a potion today, I want you to discuss what you will need to do to prepare for this task. You may start."

"Hey, Evelyn," Black taps me on the shoulder and grins like a loony. "I know what potion we're going to make."

"I apologise if you had the impression that you would be deciding our potion, Black." Well I'm not actually sorry, but, well, you get my point.

He looks affronted. "Evelyn, I'm hurt."

I bet.

"Anyway, Evelyn, we shall be making amortentia."

Right. I was going to suggest draught of living death - partly because I have faith in my abilities to make it, and partly because hopefully I can slip some into Black's muzzle of a mouth before the week's through.

"And what exactly is your reasoning behind this decision?"

"Well," says Black, looking behind him at Potter. "Once, last year, we kind of did some potion experimenting and general all-round tomfoolery, and one of those potions was amortentia, so I'm rather practiced at it."

Tomfoolery with amortentia? I feel sorry for those poor souls who were the butt of that joke. Unless it was the Hufflepuffs, then they probably would have deserved it.

"And besides, Prongs and I have a bet going on. Potter thinks that with Evans here he'll make a better amortentia than mine."

"Another bet, Black? You know how well your current one is going."

"Actually, in regards to that, I was hoping that-"

"Anyway. Amortentia. Not going to happen."

Well that's what I was hoping was going to happen. Instead, Slughorn chose that exact moment to walk past our tables to find out what we were making. "Amortentia, eh?" He scribbles it down on his notepad. "And for you, Lily?"

Lily shoots a glare at Potter and tries to say, well I don't know what she was going to say - probably veritaserum or something tricky - but Potter manages to shoot in a quick, "Amortentia, Sir," before she can get a word in.

Slughorn looks surprised. "Unexpected, unexpected. I hope it will be up to your usual standard though Lily. You too, Miss Bishop."

Lily. Phht. Teacher's pet.

"Of course, Professor," Lily smiles through her teeth and elbows Potter in the ribs. "Of course."

Well, Merlin's snitch-patterned socks, this was not the outcome I was hoping for.

"You'd better do well on Friday, Bishop," Black looks deadly serious, "Or there'll be hell to pay."

"Says you."

"Exactly, says me."

Then Black, much to the surprise of possibly the entire wizarding world, gets a fresh piece of parchment and his quill, and physically starts to write an ingredients list.

This must be a dream.

Merlin, I hope I wake up soon - I can't tell if this is a nightmare or not.

 **Tuesday**

 **September 8, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Common Room**

Well it turns out I wasn't asleep, and Black literally thinks that he will be able to make a good amortentia and beat Potter, who is paired with Lily, potions extraordinaire. Right then.

Anyway, It's evening - I've had dinner (meatloaf, in case my later self is interested) (I'm kidding. Meatloaf is disgusting) (I had porridge), and then transfiguration and divination. For homework I need to try and memorize all of Jupiter's moons, a task made easier by the fact that a large majority of its 63 moons are named after the Roman god Jupiter's various conquests and children. Oh wait, no, that's not easier, who even knows the names of all of Jupiter's conquests and children. NO ONE. I doubt even Jupiter would.

Actually, Peter might. Who knows what's going on in that brain of his.

I've actually done most of my homework, which is an achievement, let me tell you. I've decided to do some of it in the mornings before school starts, seeing as I get up so early. It's not like I have _friends_ to sit and talk with or anything (yes Dorcas, I do mean you; Dorcas the _Betrayer_ ).

The common room is empty of everyone older than fourth year. Apparently most of the Gryffindors have heard about tonight's 'gathering', and those that are permitted to participate are primping and preening in front of a dozen mirrors (have you met the fifthys?). The marauders haven't been seen or heard of for the past hour as well, which worries me more than I'd like to admit.

Worried, of course, only because I'm concerned about who or what they are doing. Well not who they're doing, but well, you understand. Of course you understand. You are me.

Anyway, Lottie's been getting ready since six-thirty, which is ridiculous. It's almost eight-thirty. It's been two bloody hours.

Oh wait - there's Lily. Oh- oh no. Merlin, she's coming to get me to get ready.

Damn.

 **Tuesday**

 **September 8, 1977**

 **Girls Dorm**

It's nine now, and it's party time. Why is there a bloody party anyway? What's the point?

Who knows - certainly not me.

I'm currently wearing a jumper and jeans, which took a lot of convincing on my behalf, let me tell you. Lily did, however, curl my hair, which is apparently a good look for me.

Actually, now that I think about it - that's quite a good thing, you know, with my attempt to seduce Remus. Maybe I should get changed? No, the party's started already - it's too late now.

 **Wednesday**

 **September 9, 1977**

 **Girls Dorm**

Well, it's Wednesday now so technically I shouldn't be writing this, but it's important, as I am feeling possibly more mortified than I have ever felt in my entire life.

It all started like this:

I went downstairs to go to the party, which was just getting started. I think. Everyone younger than fourth year was up in their dorms after a lot of coercion from Potter and Black.

Lottie and Lily were over by the fire, drinking from cups of firewhisky, you know, as responsible Gryffindors do. The Marauders always manage to sneak in firewhisky and butterbeer, and I am yet to discover exactly how they do that.

Anyway, Lottie looked amazing, as usual, and her dark hair was kind of around her face, instead of in a ponytail. As soon as I saw Lily, I knew that Potter would be close by, or far away and staring. Ahh yes, far away and staring, that's how it went.

He's always staring at Lily. I wonder if she knows. Hmm.

Unfortunately, I made eye contact with Black as I tried to spot Potter eyeing off Lily. Black looked vaguely unsettled and slightly uncomfortable, and his face almost seemed to go a shade redder when I caught his eye. He's probably got the flu. Well, hopefully, anyway. That way I won't have him distracting me in potions on Friday. If he gets terribly sick, anyhow. A point to consider.

"Hey, you've finally come down, Eva," said Lily, passing me a cup of firewhisky, you know, as responsible Gryffindor prefects and head girls do. I sipped from it anxiously.

"Finally? It's been five minutes."

Lottie giggles, "Try one hour."

One hour? What? Surely that's wrong. It can't be ten already! It's - oh, okay. Well it's ten. That's strange.

I hope Remus waited for me.

Speaking of Remus, where is-

Oh.

He's dancing with Dorcas. Dorcas the Betrayer.

I hope she can feel my laser death glare through the back of her head.

Remus catches my eye and shoots me a smile. I make some attempt to look appealing and not as if I was just plotting an extravagant and dramatic death.

Lottie suddenly goes pink and I look over my shoulder to see Mark Abery. Finally! I can dance with him, in all his good-lookingness, and make my future husband understand that he _is_ my future husband.

He walks over, a lazy grin on his face (yes, exactly how you're currently picturing it). "Hey ladies, how are we this evening?"

"Just dandy, thanks Mark. And you?"

Lily raises an eyebrow and mouths the word 'dandy' at me. Dandy is a perfectly acceptable word, thank you very much, Lily. Dumbledore probably uses it. Anyway.

"I'm quite good, thanks for asking." He glances over to the other fifthys (I just remembered - Mark Abery is a fifthy! And I don't hate him! What is the world coming to?) and frowns. "Except for the fact that my friends are ars-, oh, uh, well, um, idiots (bless his polite little soul). They've got a bet on that I don't have the guts to ask one of you lovely ladies to dance."

What is it with boys and bets? And what kind of bet is that? I repeat: I AM NOT A PRUDE.

"Would anyone care to make me ten sickles richer?" Ten sickles? That's weak.

"Lottie would." Lily pushes Lottie forward, grinning at me with a conspiratorial smile.

Mark smiles at her and they walk off and start dancing. Just like that. Maybe if I asked Remus to dance it would be that easy. Wait, no, that would involve me actually having to ask him to dance, so I'm going to veto that idea.

Suddenly, I feel a presence behind me. Why is it that whenever Black approaches I can feel it? Maybe I can just smell his awful stench. Or maybe he has some weird bacteria that alerts people when he's close so they don't catch the bacteria and die.

"Evelyn," He says. "Care to dance?"

I make a point of not looking at him.

"Evans," says Potter over my other shoulder. "Would you also, fine lady, care to dance?"

Now this is where things start to get whacky.

I, of course, was fully expecting Lily, in all of her wisdom and knowledge, to refuse this treacherous offer, and instead stay and make fun of all of the fifthys with me, but instead she kind of pauses and tilts her head to the side, staring at Potter, as if evaluating every single one of her life decisions, and after what seems to be an entire bloody eternity, says, "Sure."

If Remus was here he would have choked on something.

I just kind of stood there, along with Potter and Black, and we were all staring at her as if she'd grown another head.

"Well, Potter. There's no time like the present!" Says Lily, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards Mark and Lottie.

"Well that was, an uh," Black clears his throat, "unexpected development."

"You're telling me."

We both kind of pause in bewilderment for a bit. Understandably, of course. I still don't quite know what to make of it. This is probably some ploy by Lily to get his hopes up and then CRUSH THEM.

Excellent.

"So, Evelyn," says Black, interrupting my confusion. "How about that dance?"

I think he's joking.

"No?"

He raises an eyebrow. "No... like it's a question? Are you undecided or just...?"

"No."

"No to what?"

"No to... to..." What are we talking about again? Oh, yes, "No to your suggestion of me doing something that involves me getting within three feet of you."

"I'm currently standing within three feet of you."

Details, schmeetails.

"So that's a no then?"

"Yes, Black. It's a no."

He looks at me with an unreadable expression. Great, more awkwardness.

I should probably just leave.

Would that be rude?

I should probably just leave anyway.

Why aren't I moving?

He's still looking at me with that weird expression, except it's kind of different now.

He seems awfully close.

My head is buzzing, so I look at my cup of firewhisky and notice that it's empty.

Why is Black standing so close to me?

He's probably very drunk. I should go.

Why is he looking at me like that?

What does that mean?

I can't interpret facial expressions this late at night. I need another firewhisky.

I can't tell if he's actually extremely close to me or if I'm just seeing things.

Okay, Eva. Time. To. Go.

"This has been, uh, great, Black, but I uh, need to, uh... go."

He shakes his head as if clearing his mind or something. Not that I would know, that assumption was far too specific. "Oh, yes. Of course. Bye, Eva. Don't have too much fun."

What?

Anyway, I leave and go stand with Marlene, who is talking with Alice.

"Hi, Eva," says Alice. "You've caught me at a bad time, I'm heading upstairs to bed."

"Oh, of course. Night, Alice."

"Night, Eva. Night, Marley."

Marley smiles at me. "So, what were you talking to Sirius about? You guys looked awfully chummy for a few seconds there."

Again with the first name. I keep forgetting he has one.

"It was just, uh, me rebuffing his boyish dreams of dancing with me."

Marley raises an eyebrow. "You don't like him?"

What sort of question is that? "Of course not. He's a bloody prat."

"Oh. I thought that you two were, well, never mind."

I think she's drunk a bit too much firewhisky. Well, maybe, so have I. Lily says I'm a lightweight, but, well, I don't really drink enough to know that for sure. Well, actually, maybe that's a sign that I am. Anyway.

"So you don't like his boyish dreams of dancing with you?" Asks Marley.

"I don't like his boyish anything."

Well it's true.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

How do I put this politely? Oh, Merlin, screw it. "I don't like boy anything. They're annoying."

Well, I like boys, but you know my meaning.

Suddenly I feel something touching my lips and my eyes can't focus on what's in front of my face, due to the closeness of whatever it is which blocks my vision.

It's lips.

Lips are touching my lips.

Why are lips touching my lips?

I jump backwards, startled, which earns a stare from the nearby party-goers.

I stare dumbfounded at Marley, who resumes her pre-snog stance as she looks at me with confused eyes.

"What in the name of Merlin's bloody Christmas-sweater was that?"

"I thought you said that you liked girls."

"No. I said I didn't like boy anything."

"Exactly." Marley looks at me oddly and she seems sort of embarrassed, which is good, I suppose. "I just thought you meant that..." She trails off, definitely looking awkward.

Why is it so quiet in here?

I turn around and I can see quite a lot of people looking at me and Marley with their eyes wide and their mouths imitating a black hole of despair.

Great. Less than two weeks and now I'm pregnant with Black's love-child and a lesbian.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see Remus and Black standing together, doing what I assume was talking, but now are just staring in shock, which is understandable under the present circumstances.

Hopefully this encounter doesn't limit my husband-finding opportunities.

Merlin, why am I so bloody calm about this? Marley just kissed me, for goodness sake!

"Eva? Did you hear me?" Marley asks, interrupting my internal monologue.

"What?"

"I said I'm sorry, I just thought that you, uh, well, and I'm a bit drunk as well, and so I..."

"It's alright Marlene, but a bit of warning might have been good."

WHY AM I SO BLOODY CALM?

I should probably go now though.

Yeah.

This is not an Eva-friendly environment.

MERLIN, THIS IS NOT A JOKE, EVA!

And that was about the last thought that ran through my mind before I sort of inched my way through the spectators and crawled like a dying bug upstairs to my bed, where I am currently writing this.

Let's hope when I fall asleep I don't wake up so I don't have to face the aftermath.

Bloody Merlin.

 _ **AN:**_ _ **An extra-long chapter, with a kind of crazy unexpected development at the end - I hope you liked it! The actual 'kiss bit' was written by my great editor, Catriona, who is always there to help me when my brain decides to not work anymore.**_

 **Please comment what you thought of the chapter, what you think might happen in the next, and ideas - you never know, I might like them enough to put them in!**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **OXO**


	9. I'm Allergic to People

**Wednesday**

 **September 9, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Dorm**

The first few things that crossed my mind this morning when I woke were as follows:

1\. I forgot about bloody detention. I'm Eva Bishop, I just don't go around partying and forgetting about detention!

2\. I definitely drank too much firewhisky last night. Exactly the reason why I don't party - I'm too much of a lightweight. I literally only drank one cup.

3\. Sadly, I didn't drink enough to forget that I was kissed by Marlene McKinnon. On the lips. With people around. REMUS SAW! (I think). I mean of all the things I expected to happen, none of them did. NONE OF THEM! Zero. Nada.

Oh well, lets stress my life away, shall I? It's six thirty, no one's awake, as usual, yada yada, I know the drill. Let's get breakfast over and done with, shall we?

 **Wednesday**

 **September 9, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

Well that was a surprise.

I got down for breakfast and the hall was practically empty, aside from the usual few Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Gryffindors. Do all the Slytherins normally sleep late? Is that a Slytherin trait? Probably.

Anyway, Black was nowhere to be seen, which came as both a surprise and a relief, and Dorcas was sitting by herself, and I guess, well, after coming in and seeing she was looking straight at me, was waiting for me.

She grinned as I sat down across from her and looked to her left and right before whispering, "Is it true?"

Is what true? That I'm a raging lesbian?

"Is what true?" There. Let her think about it.

"Don't play stupid with me, Eva. Everyone saw you and Marley kissing last night."

"Well I'm not gay if that's what you want to know. Marley just thought I was. Not quite sure why, but, well, you know what people say about assumptions."

"No, I don't actually."

Neither do I, now that I think about it. "Well it was an accident, just so you know. You shouldn't think anything of it. Not that I don't like Marley, I quite like her a lot, actually, but, well, not in that way."

"Oh. Well I'm glad that's sorted then," said Dorcas, who returned to her breakfast.

Where's Black, I wonder? Not that I care, obviously, but he's been, well, somewhat present in my mornings this year. Maybe now he's decided to stop ruining my life?

Fat chance.

"So where's Black this morning? Has he decided he's too cool to grace us with his presence?"

Dorcas raises an eyebrow. "Why would I know? Sirius and I aren't exactly bunk buddies... Why do you care anyway?"

There we go with the first names again. And I don't, obviously.

"Hopefully he's decided to stop our morning rendezvous, that's all."

Dorcas' eyebrow looks as if it might jump off her face. "I bet."

What's that supposed to mean? Everyone's so bloody cryptic these days - especially Lily, with the ridiculous way she was acting last night, dancing with Potter and all that. Speaking of which.

"Uh, Dorcas?"

"Yes Eva?"

"So what exactly happened last night after I left?"

"Oh." She blushes. "Well I wouldn't really know, I spent most of the night with Remus."

SHE BLOODY WHAT?

Calm, Evelyn. Calm. "You, uh, what?"

"Yeah, I asked him to dance, and well, I think he likes me."

I think I may need a considerable amount of time to recover from this betrayal. Can I say: Dorcas the Betrayer?

All of a sudden, Dorcas' awfully dreamily-looking face and my most probably SHELL-SHOCKED one were interrupted, for some reason, by Hol Buggery.

"Uh, hi, Eva. And Meadowes," he said, shuffling side to side.

"Buggery," said Dorcas with a glare.

Huh?

"Anyway, Eva, I was wondering if you'd had any more thought about those charms?"

Ahh. That would be a no.

"Hollard!" Came a screech from the other side of the hall. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Why do all of these people feel the need to join my breakfast?

The girl walks over, and I feel like I've seen her before. Her hair is like a dark red except I don't think it's natural. But it looks really good which is really annoying, because she seems annoying. Anyway.

She grabs Hol's arm and turns to face us, smiling oddly. "Hello, Eva."

I stare at her blankly. I feel like I should know her name, but I really don't.

She raises an eyebrow. "Hello? Isadora James? We're in the same year? I'm in Hufflepuff."

Ahh. That's why she seemed familiar. "Ahh, yes, I remember you now. You're the girl who's almost sort of not really as good as me at charms."

"Excuse me?" She looks incredulous. "You're not better than I am."

EXCUSE ME?

"Actually, there's no one quite as good at charms as Bishop here," added Black.

Wait, Black? When did he turn up?

"Morning everyone," Black grinned, sitting on top of the Gryffindor table. "What brings this odd collection of people here this fine day?"

"We were just leaving," replied Isadora, attempting to drag Hol away from our little gathering.

"Actually, hang on Iz, I need to talk to Eva," interrupted Hol. "I need to ask her about charms for my project."

"I can answer your questions perfectly fine," Isadora glared at me, "I probably know more than she does anyway."

HOLD YOUR BLOODY HORSES WOMAN!

"Whoah, Izzie, don't say anything too hasty," said Black, jumping off the table and coming to stand behind them. "I've got a rather excellent idea, actually. Why don't Buggery and Bishop go off and talk charms, and we can recreate our broom cupboard moment of last year, shall we?"

If Remus was here, he would have choked on something.

Luckily we had the ever eloquent Hollard Eustace Buggery, who turned red in the face and managed to splutter out a, "You said you'd never had a boyfriend before!"

To which Isadora replied, "I haven't! Snogging a couple times doesn't count as a boyfriend," and proceeded to dragged Hol's protesting body out of the great hall.

"Well that was fun," grinned Black, "let's do it again some time, shall we?"

 **Wednesday**

 **September 9, 1977**

 **Charms**

Black is an absolute menace, let me tell you. I left rather hurriedly after the conversation in the great hall, more in disgust than anything. I mean, well, obviously Black's done a lot of snogging, but you don't really want to hear about it you know? It's like small children. They're to be seen and not heard. Not that I'm suggesting Black's snogging's the sort of thing to be seen.

Merlin.

Anyway, Herbology was a kerfuffle and a half, let me tell you. One of the Hufflepuffs, who knows what their name is, managed to get stung by a Venomous Tentacular in greenhouse six and almost _died._

Sprout panicked so much in her attempt to get the boy to Pomfrey that she accidentally knocked over a couple of baby mandrakes, and well, that managed to make a couple of people pass out, including Ervyn Avery, which made Black and Potter laugh so much that they almost passed out.

It was a crisis.

Anyway, I'm in charms now and Isadora keeps shooting me death stares. Not sure why, it's not like I did anything to offend her. If anything, it should be me that's offended. Her better than me? What a joke.

All of a sudden, a scrunched up ball of parchment hits my desk. Wow. I wonder what this could be. I open it, and naturally, a note from Black.

 _Dearest Evelyn,_

It reads.

 _I must apologise for mentioning certain snogging incidents of the_ _ **past**_ _this morning in order to rid you of Isadora. Won't happen again, I assure you._

What? Why is he apologising? I don't give a doxy's arse about any of his snogging practices.

 _Anyway, speaking of snogging,_

Here we go.

 _I was wondering if you could possibly be tempted by a hefty sum of thirty galleons! James has decided, in an effort to encourage you, to double his snogging price! THIRTY GALLEONS EVELYN! Do you know how much thirty galleons can buy?_

Snogging price? Merlin's pants Black, this is feeling awfully close to prostitution.

 _Please Evelyn, if you care about me at all, you'll do this one small thing for me._

 _Lots of love,_

 _Your one and only,_

 _Sirius Orion Black._

I wonder if Flitwick will notice if I suddenly set fire to this piece of parchment? Well even if he doesn't, Isadora probably will and that will probably have a rather negative outcome. Hmm.

I turn around and shoot Black a glare. I'm momentarily thrown because he looks at me with this somewhat disarmingly hopeful face, but then I remember he's a childish, bullying, rich, arrogant git, and I light the paper on fire, throw it in his face, turn back around and pretend I have no idea that part of Black's hair is burning off.

What a pity.

"Mr Black!" Shrieks Flitwick in alarm, "What on earth is going on?"

Black only looks mildly alarmed as he puts out the fire on his head and attempts to rub the ash off of his face. "What an excellent question, Professor. I do believe I must have accidentally set myself on fire."

I feel my heart almost stop. What? Black passing up an opportunity to get me in trouble?

"That's not true, Professor," interrupts Isadora, "it was Bishop, Sir, she set Black on fire!"

Well there it is.

Black winks at me whilst Flitwick is distracted.

"I will _not_ have this _behavior_ in _my_ classroom," shrills Flitwick, looking as if he might burst. "Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr Black, for disrupting my lesson, and ten points from Hufflepuff, Miss James, for obvious slander. Now, everyone, get back to your lesson!"

On either side of me, Lily and Lottie look at me with wide eyes. Merlin, I would be looking at me with wide eyes if that were humanly possible.

Well thanks, Flitwick. Obvious slander. Take that, Isadora. I avoid making eye contact.

Anyway, what's more important is that Black, yes, Sirius (cringe) Orion Black, known Evelyn Katherine Olivia Bishop hater, passed up an opportunity to get me detention. What has gotten into him lately? This is getting bloody ridiculous.

Anyway, no snogging for him, or me, for that matter, and back to charms! (I've almost mastered a nonverbal _accio,_ which could be mighty useful).

 **Wednesday**

 **September 9, 1977**

 **Library**

So I'm avoiding Pince, naturally, because I think she might hate me. If her French swearing when I walked in is anything to go by, I would say yes.

Anyway, it's my study period, my only one, and I don't think it coincides with anyone else's study period, and I can't decide if it is a good thing or not.

On one hand, no Lily, Lottie or Remus.

On the other hand, no Black, Potter or Peter.

Not that I hate Peter, it's just, well, he has terrible taste in friends.

And speaking of Lily, I could not find her this morning when I woke up. I've barely seen her all day, as a matter of fact. Well I've seen her in Herbology and Charms, but, well, I was doing work, and wasn't really doing much talking.

I'm a terrible friend.

Oh, look! Mark Abery! I can see him through the bookshelf - he's on the other side of the Charms aisle. Hey, maybe he needs tutoring!

Well not maybe, I know he does. But like, now.

"Pssst, Mark!" I hiss through the bookshelf.

He drops the book he's holding, and it makes an awfully loud noise as it hits the ground. I hear Pince curse from somewhere over in the Ministry of Magic section.

Oops.

"Mark, it's me, Eva. Quick, come over here."

He hurries around to where I am more quickly than I would have given him credit for, looking mildly concerned.

"What's going on?" He whispers, looking around for Pince.

"Calm down, my good friend. She's not going to come over. But maybe sit down and look engrossed in my charms essay just in case."

He sits down, just in the nick of time, I might add, as Pince rounds the corner looking awfully suspicious, but doesn't give us studious students a second glance.

Mark looks up from my essay looking slightly more than vaguely confused. "So, uh, Eva, why did you call me over here?"

"Because you need my expert tutelage, of course." Why else?

"Oh, right! So you're able to help me now?"

No, no I'm not. I just thought I'd use my spare time to tell you about my desire for a pet iguana.

"Why yes, yes I am."

"Great! Where do we start then?"

"Well, let's see. Do you have any outstanding work that you're confused about?"

"Um, yeah. I've got this one assignment that I can't make head or tail of."

I glanced at his work and then proceeded to fetch a book on the topic. My little journey took me to another aisle, where I could still see Mark. And, I could also see someone seeing Mark also. I mean someone was watching him. Creepily. I was mildly concerned so I made haste back to our study desk and pulled up another chair to sit next to my little apprentice.

"You've got a stalker."

"Huh?"

"Some chick over there," I gestured.

Mark turned his head to catch his observer and then quickly turned his head back to his scroll, blushing. "That's just Louise."

Just Louise? What's with the crimson cheeks then, eh Abery?

"Ok, well, let's have a gander at this then, shall we?" And we proceeded to study the theory of silencing charms for about ten minutes, undisturbed, until Louise decided to swing past every thirty seconds, creating an unwelcome distraction from our lesson, not unlike some other people I knew.

But anyway, Louise was distracting me _and_ Mark, so I had to do something about it.

"Hey, Louise. Get over here."

That ought to put a stop to her awkward scampering.

She scurried to our desk from around the corner where she'd been waiting for the next thirty second interval to roll around.

"You know my name?" She questioned timidly. (In a Scottish accent I might add. Which probably explains her strawberry-blondeness.)

"Well, I thought it'd be best if I knew the name of the person who was stalking me."

Her expression changed from shy to shocked and embarrassed.

Well, obviously she's stalking me. I mean, she wouldn't be stalking Mark Abery, obviously, because Mark Abery obviously has a crush on Lottie. Obviously.

"I'm uh, not... stalking you, Eva," Louise says, rocking awkwardly on her feet. "Uh, not that I know your name, of course, because that would be stalkery, but except I do, because, well, Mark's mentioned it a couple of times."

He what?

Mark coughed loudly. "Uh, hi Louise. Uh, this is Eva Bishop, Eva, this is Louise McKendrick."

Definitely Scottish.

"Louise is my friend from Ravenclaw. She's a fifth year prefect and she likes cats."

I'm a dog person myself.

"So Louise... what brings you to this neck of the woods?"

She is looking increasingly awkward, which is good, methinks, as I can't really decide if I like her or not. Her hair is too perfect. It's bugging me. It's like... too nice to be natural.

"I'm, uh, doing my charms homework."

Right.

"Well do you reckon you could do that in a slightly less distracting manner? We're trying to work here, and your pacing is making it, well, to be honest, rather impossible to focus on anything charm related. I mean, for goodness sake, I almost told Mark here the wand movements for _incendio_ , instead of the movement for _aparecium_ , and, well, nothing good could come of that."

"Uh, Eva," Mark interrupted, attempting to put out the burning piece of parchment on the desk, "I think you did, uh, get the wand movements mixed up.

Ahh. That would be why Louise was staring at us in shock, not because of my obviously threatening demeanor.

Also, the desk is on fire.

Nothing a simple _aguamenti_ shouldn't fix.

Mark's still trying to put the fire out by hitting it with a book, not that it's a particularly large fire, but, well, it is bright purple, which is kind of ringing warning bells, and Louise is being particularly helpful by standing there in shock. Ugh, why do I have to do all the work around here?

I put the fire out, but, naturally, Pince, as well as some random Slytherin, have noticed that orange smoke is emanating from our little study nook and have come over, which means that Pince has started yelling in a mix of French and English.

I can really only make out a few words in the chaos, such as 'torture' and 'get out' and 'death' so I kind of decide it would be a good idea to gather my things and leave, dragging Mark and Louise with me.

So I do.

 **Wednesday**

 **September 9, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dorm**

So after that fiasco we managed to escape without incident. I do, however, think that next time I hope to venture into the library I'll have to sneak in, as Pince might have put a lifetime ban on my presence entering her sacred area.

Mark and Louise awkwardly left to go wherever they went, I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention. What, however, had caught my attention was Black strutting around the Great Hall with only half his clothes on.

This only caught my attention because Black in only a pair of pants was shockingly horrendous and disgusting, not because of his finely shaped torso. Obviously not because of that. Obviously.

Anyway, I kind of sneaked in, grabbed a sandwich or two, and left, after being greeted by Lily's disgusted face and Lottie's shockingly-not-so face at the entry to the great hall. I wanted no part of Black's tomfoolery. Neither did Lily, and probably (hopefully) Lottie, so they left with me, and we ate lunch outside.

Then after lunch was Ancient Runes, which was sadly uneventful. Remus wasn't looking very well though - he seemed awfully tired and haggard, which, now that I think about it, seemed to happen an awful lot. Maybe I could pester Black about it.

After Ancient Runes was DADA, and we're still learning about werewolves, which is interesting. I reckon it'd be cool to meet a werewolf, you know, considering they were in human form at the time and weren't one of those 'evil' type werewolves. Like a nice werewolf. Anyway.

It's almost time for our first prefects meeting of the year, and I'm excited to see how Lily and Potter manage being head's together. Also I'll get to sit next to Remus. So many exciting possibilities!

Also, the fact that I have a prefects meeting means that my detention, as revealed on a very exciting note from McGonagall, _'is to be moved to the day after your detentions were originally planned to end, along with two days after that, to make up for the detention missed last night, and any other detentions that coincide with any prefect functions.'_

So I have three more nights of detention. Super duper.

Anyway, I'd best be off to the prefect meeting.

 **Wednesday**

 **September 9, 1977**

 **Unused Charms Classroom turned Prefect Meeting Room**

So, because of Potter's brilliant skills, he managed to blow up the prefect meeting room in his attempt to redecorate, so we're using an unused charms classroom, which kind of makes me feel more at home, so that's good.

I didn't realize the school had so many prefects. I mean, well, there's eight in each year, times by three, add two (that makes 26, in case in your old age, when you're rereading this diary, you don't know how to do basic multiplication).

Anyway, so we're all sitting at this long table, with Lily and Potter at the head, and Remus and I on either side of them, staring dreamily into each other's eyes (no that was not embellished whatsoever).

I swear, I don't recognize half the people here. There's Hol Buggery and Hollie Hindeburg from Ravenclaw, Hollie Beckham from Slytherin (why are there so many Hollies?), and I'm not sure who the seventh year boys from Hufflepuff and Slytherin are. Unfortunately, I spot Isadora James, my newest friend, who is sitting next to Hol, as the seventh year Hufflepuff prefect.

There's also Louise McKendrick for Ravenclaw, and Lottie's sister Julie as a fifth year Gryffindor prefect.

Potter brings the meeting to attention by banging on the table with a gavel. Not quite sure where he got one of those, but, well, knowing Potter, it could be from anywhere.

"Attention, Ladies and Gentlemen," Potter announces, banging his gavel both loudly and repetitively. "Your esteemed Head Girl and I now officially open this meeting."

Lily rips the gavel out of his hand and kicks him in the leg (which I know, due to a loud 'thump' that comes from under the table.

"Thank you for that splendorous introduction Potter."

Potter tries to grin, but fails due to the pain in his leg, and it comes out more like a wince.

"Anyway, you have been selected as this year's school prefects, and that title comes with various responsibilities, some of which you have already performed, such as leading the firsties to your common rooms," Lily nods at the fifth year prefects, "and other tasks which we'll talk about closer to the date said events, such as helping with the Halloween and Christmas decorations."

"More importantly," interrupts Potter, "you're able to take away points, which I think is bloody brilliant, but only from your own houses, which is less brilliant. So don't even try taking fifty points from Gryffindor when we smash you in Quidditch."

The Gryffindors cheer, including me (obviously). The other houses look annoyed.

"Also," adds Lily, with another kick toward Potter, "we need to organize a roster for the nightly patrols of the castle. "You'll work in groups of two, same year, any house, just to keep it interesting, and you'll change partner each week, but will patrol on the same night per week, if that makes sense to everybody? There'll be two sets of partners, one that will start early, and then swap with the other pair so that you all have time to get work done."

Everybody nods, despite no one actually understanding what Lily said. Except maybe Remus. Remus probably understood.

"Anyway, people, here we go. Remember who your partner is and what day you're on."

Lily pulls out a piece of paper, marked up with lines and tables that seems to make some sort of sense to her. Potter leans back on his chair, and I can see him whispering something to Remus that I can't quite catch. Remus chokes on his water.

"So, fifthys, here you go." Lily starts rattling off a list of names, which I don't bother to catch. Something about Juniper Clearwater being partnered with Jesse Finch sends a Felicity Klopper into a screaming fit but they're fifthys so I kind of ignored the hair pulling and the eye poking (although it was fun to see Potter getting punched in the eye in an attempt to put a stop to the madness).

What I was waiting for was who I was going to be paired with (cough cough Remus) and it is getting increasingly frustrating to sit here and listen.

"Eva?" Says Lily, looking at me with a little grin, "You'll be paired with Remus." Lily winks at me for added affect. I try to look neutral.

Potter raises an eyebrow at Lily. We both try and look neutral. Potter narrows his eyes and then grins and I really hope he's just remembering something funny that happened during one of his endeavors to reach enlightenment.

Remus smiles (I die a little inside) and asks, "So when are we on?"

"Tomorrow, 11 till 12," replies Lily.

"Great," smiles Remus again.

It's a date.

"Also there's a prefects' bathroom five doors to the left of the statue of Boris the Bewildered. The password is 'strawberry bomb," finishes Potter with a bang of his gavel. "Meeting adjourned!"

 _ **THANKS FOLKS FOR READING! Again, big thanks to Catriona for checking my work is readable and also writing some of the part where Louise is introduced (she's a babe).**_

 **Please comment ideas and things you want to happen in the story, and I'll try and work them in! Thanks again for reading!**


	10. X Perfectly Puzzling Problems and Potion

**Thursday**

 **September 10, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

I'm really nervous for today, only really because I have Muggle Studies first thing and I feel kind of nervous about being with just Remus, especially considering the events of the party. But, well, he seemed perfectly fine yesterday, so I'm probably just overthinking things.

I also have potions, and that means amortentia with Black, something that I don't think I could ever be ready for.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to be.

Anyway, I'm eating breakfast with Dorcas; Black, again, is nowhere to be seen, which is weird. Not that I care, again, but... well... his presence is disturbing, and his lack of presence is somewhat more disturbing, as who knows where he could be! He could be torturing some innocent firsties for all I know!

Oh look! Lily and Lottie have come down for breakfast - I didn't realize it was that late in the morning. Oh, wait, Dorcas isn't here anymore. When did that happen?

"Morning Eva," says Lily, sitting down beside me, "you're here late."

"Yeah," Lottie agrees, piling her plate with eggs, "aren't you normally loitering around the library at this time of the morning?"

"Well I thought instead I would wait and eat breakfast with my bestest friends in the whole world!"

Lily raises an eyebrow. "Bestest friends, sure, but you've already eaten breakfast," She points at my waffle-less maple-syruppy plate.

"Oh well, I'm not complaining," Lottie interjects, "I feel like we've barely seen any of you, what with your detentions, and you spending half your time in the library, not to mention your stint in the hospital wing. And besides," Lottie says, looking at Lily with a grin, "You've missed all of the gossip!"

Lily goes almost as red as her hair.

There's gossip that she didn't tell me about? Merlin's barbaric right eyebrow, I'VE BEEN MISSING OUT! It's that pesky little Black runt. I'll hex him the next time I see him.

Anyway.

Gossip.

Lottie leans in really close, looking all conspiratorial, and whispers, "The other night, at the party, when you left early because of the whole Marley thing, I need to talk to you about that, by the way, like, what exactly-"

"Lottie," I interrupted, "continue with the story."

"Right," She glances at Lily again who has her arms crossed and is leaning blank-faced away from us. "So our dearest Lily, as you know, went off to dance with Potter..."

I'D FORGOTTEN ABOUT THAT! MERLIN'S BLOODY EYEBALLS WHERE ARE MY PRIORITIES AT?

"...and she didn't injure him. Not once. She didn't even hex him, or punch him, or verbally abuse him. She just... danced with him... and then left. Just like that."

Lily scowls and stands up, one hand on her hip and the other moving her wand to form a particularly dangerous spell. One she hopefully doesn't say out loud, or we might all, you know, die. "I'd drunk too much firewhisky, that's all. Just... just stop talking about this, alright? It's not a big deal, and you keep distracting me by talking about it Lottie, I mean, I've already forgotten to put my perfume on so i'm going to smell terrible by lunchtime. And don't you have eggs to eat, Lottie? And you, Eva, things to worry about?"

She makes a compelling argument.

I've got that transfiguration essay after all. And Black is probably going to kill me at some stage. And Remus may be in love with Dorcas the Betrayer who I am still friends with because she might injure me. And there's that thing with Hol- wait. No. Eva. Stay on track.

Lily hates Potter, so what's gotten into her?

Maybe the Slytherins have been putting things into everyone's drinks, that's why everyone's acting so whacky lately.

Who knows? Certainly not me.

Merlin, is that the time?

Hello, Muggle Studies!

 **Thursday**

 **September 10, 1977**

 **Muggle Studies**

Remus is looking particularly fine today, if I do say so myself.

Picture a window, a great big window that is beaming light into a specific spot in an otherwise dimly lit classroom. Picture an incredibly good-looking tousle-haired boy staring dramatically into the distance, the sun hitting his face, lighting up his whole body and making his eyes sparkle.

You've sort of got the gist of it.

Anyway, Remus is good-looking, as usual, and is quite possibly too good looking for me to handle on this day of surprises. Merlin, I really should sit down; Horus Harris is looking at me funny.

I swear I'm mostly sometimes not a stalker!

Ahh, that's not really very comforting is it.

Horus Harris will never know.

Anyway.

"Hey Eva," Remus smiles as I sit down. "How're you on this fine sunny morning?"

"Quite excellent, now that I'm here hanging with my favourite Marauder."

Was that a bit too much? A bit too friendly? Surely not! He needs to forget Dorcas the Betrayer (DTB) and think of _me!_

Remus raises an eyebrow. "Favourite Marauder? Are you quite certain?"

"Positively," I reply.

I don't know what on earth he means by that, I mean, who is else was he expecting? Peter?

He's obviously my favourite. Obviously. I mean, I don't ever really talk to Peter, and well, Black or Potter? Hah! What a joke!

Anyway.

"So what's going on in Remus world?" I ask, naturally. A good wife always looks after her husband's needs before her own. Unless her husband is a spider. Then one would look after her own needs first, because one would be a female spider, and one would eat her husband. But that's beside the point.

"Uh, it's okay at the moment. Sirius is acting weirder than usual, but James is acting more normally, which kind of balances it out. Full moon sometime next week, which is, uh," He looks around awkwardly, "irrelevant, and I don't have that much homework for History of Magic, which is good."

Remus' face suddenly brightens, "Oh, and I uh," he blushes, "there's this girl, which, well, I like her, and she seems to like me, which, um... is exciting. But that's probably too much information than what you were going for."

MERLIN'S BLOODY BOLLOCKS!

Is... is this a dream? Is Remus finally, admitting, well, more hinting at, his feelings for me? Oh boy, have I got the collywobbles.

I probably would have fallen out of my seat if Bunt hadn't walked past and tapped loudly on my desk with a ruler, asking if I knew the difference between a microwave and an oven - I do; it's easier to explode things in the microwave - and then forcing silent working until the end of the lesson.

Great.

More time to think about my impending death (hint: potions).

 **Thursday**

 **September 10, 1977**

 **Corridor Somewhere in the Dungeons**

 _A Comprehensive List of Why One Might Find Oneself in a Dungeon Corridor instead of a Potions Classroom._ _Compiled by Evelyn K. O. Bishop_

1\. One quite likes the atmosphere of the dungeons - the gloomy light, the musty smell, the damp, the most-likely poisonous fungus growing on the walls. It's probably really good for the complexion.

2\. In comparison, one is afraid of the dungeons and is there to try and conquer one's fear.

3\. One is heading to the Slytherin Common Room, obviously, as one so commonly does.

4\. One has come down with a terrible disease that will most likely kill oneself if one were to enter a Potions classroom.

5\. One is lost.

6\. One is on a very secretive and dangerous mission on behalf of the auror department.

7\. One is avoiding the Hufflepuff gossip mill (they tend to congregate in sunny areas).

8\. One is avoiding making a love potion with one's worst enemy in an effort to prove that together they can make a love potion better than one's best friend and best friend's hopefully-worst-enemy in order to win points for one's house because one does not want to run the risk of being near a love potion in close proximity to one's worst enemy and likewise, one does not want to make a love potion with one's worst enemy against one's best friend and one's best friend's hopefully-worst-enemy because one knows one's best friend and one's best friend's hopefully-worst-enemy will win and one does not want to risk the oncoming wrath of one's worst enemy in the imminent event of one and one's worst enemy not winning the love potion making challenge.

 **Thursday,**

 **September 10, 1977**

 **Potions Classroom**

Sadly, I was found in the dungeon corridor by one rather angry-looking head girl and dragged to this classroom, raucous laughter coming from the direction of one's other supposedly best friend all the while.

Maybe I shall send Selene to write a letter to the Minister for Magic about the shocking disrespect today's head girls are showing to the hard-working students of Hogwarts.

What a kerfuffle. Lily Elaine Evans, Class A Git.

Anyway, I was dragged to my desk, which caused several eyebrows to raise, and was met with the face of the cat who got the bloody cream.

I must admit, Black's bodily disgustingness does improve minimally when he smiles, but that kind of doesn't matter, ever. So anyway, moving on.

"Why, Evelyn, just the person I wanted to see on this fine morning!" Grins Black, pulling out the chair next to him to Lily can shove me down on it. "I had almost thought you weren't going to turn up!"

Well he's not wrong.

"Finally," says Slughorn with a very McGonagall-esque look, "You're all here. Remember, the group who makes the best potion by the end of the lesson will receive thirty points each for their houses, so try your hardest! You may begin."

Black immediately, much to everyone's surprise, jumps out of his chair and leaps to the storeroom cupboard, narrowly beating Potter to the supplies, and hurries back to our table, his eyes wide, yelling, "Bloody hurry up will you, Bishop, we have points to win!"

You know what, Black? I don't think hurrying will make the potion better, in fact, if we hurry, we might make a mistake, so there!

"I've got the rose thorns, peppermint and moonstone, Bishop. Here's the ashwinder eggs, here," he points to the marked spot on the textbook, "crush them like it says. You better do it well, Bishop," and he races off again to get the dandelion root and the horklump juice.

Well who is he and what has he done with the Sirius Black we all know and hate?

Very well, I'd better follow instructions.

I'd better put my diary down or Black might rip it to shreds in his haste to get me working.

 **Thursday**

 **September 10, 1977**

 **Potions Classroom**

We're in that waiting period now - I've just added the sopophorus bean, which was a struggle in itself, let me tell you! I remember clearly, sixth year, draught of living death, Lily telling me, "No, Eva, you don't bloody cut it, yes, I know it bloody says to bloody cut it, no stop, STOP! You crush it, like so! What are you? Oh, okay, wait, BLOODY STOP! Wait, keep going, okay, good. Like that."

So I know full well from that traumatizing experience that one should crush it and not cut it, but I couldn't seem to get it through Black's thick head. I ended up distracting him and crushing it anyway, to which he seemed likely to throttle me, but after the potion turned the exact shade of light blue it was supposed to he kind of begrudgingly nodded and sat down, looking like a petulant little wart of a child.

Anyway, so now we're up to that stage where we need to stir it three times counterclockwise and five times clockwise every thirty seconds specifically, and it's Black's turn to do that now, so I'm writing in here, obviously.

I must say, despite my somewhat 'bleak' outlook on the outcome of today's lesson, it's actually not going so terribly. Our potion's going fine, great, actually, and I've only been injured once (I'm allergic to wormwood), so that's better than I'd hoped.

Oh, bloody Merlin. Lily's potion is just that more 'white satin' blue than my 'windmill wings' blue. Which, is to be expected, after all. Oh well. At least we'll get 60 points to Gryffindor either way!

Oh bollocks, it's my turn to stir.

 **Thursday**

 **September 10, 1977**

 **Potions Classroom**

I honestly don't know what on earth has gotten into Black. I mean, he's not destroying anything, and he's quite avidly concentrating on our potion, I mean, he's hardly let me do anything! Slughorn's currently looking at our potion with a look of surprise, I mean, I am too! (Not that I'm bad at potions, I'm just average, but Black isn't known for being a particularly proficient potioneer).

Lily's potion is looking even better than ours, which is disappointing, but not unexpected, so I guess I can't really be that upset about it. Potter's looking smugly over in Black's direction, and Lily's rolling her eyes at me and giving me a thumbs up at my potion, raising an eyebrow at Black.

We've got about ten minutes of the lesson left, and precisely three wand movements before our potion is completed.

And it's done.

It looks quite excellent if I do say so myself. It's got that whole mother-of-pearl sheen, and the steam is rising from it in tightly coiled little spirals.

It smells so bloody good, like those little flowers that grow by the black lake in the spring, and the smell of the fire in the big common room fireplace, and something sugary, like toffee, or caramel.

I could just smell this forever.

I'm sadly distracted from my almost entrancement by Slughorn banging his ruler loudly on his desk and saying, quite forcefully I might add, "And your time is up! Let's see how you've all done."

Naturally, I expect Black to be lounging back on his chair, grinning at the potion with that horrible smile of his, but he's sitting up, straight backed and staring at the potion with an odd look on his face. Like, well I can't explain it. Like he's confused?

All of a sudden he glances sharply at me, and widens his eyes as if in realization of something drastic. He's probably realized Lily's potion is going to be much better than ours. The steam on ours is coiling too tightly to be perfect.

I look behind me and realize that I'm right. Her's and Potter's potion has steam rising in loose coils, like it's supposed to.

So close, but yet so far.

Speaking of Lily and Potter, they're acting rather strangely. Potter's narrowed his eyes and is saying something about Lily's perfume being too strong, which is odd, because I specifically remember Lily mentioning she forgot to put it on today, and Lily's just staring at the desk in what looks to be a a trance of mixed horror and shock, pinching her nose between her fingers.

What on earth is going on? Everyone's acting so bloody weird today.

I make eye contact with Lottie, whose potion seems to be gurgling, and judging by the look on her face, is the source of that rotten egg smell that is faintly lingering under the overpowering scent of amortentia. Lottie looks with a raised eyebrow and a grin over at Lily and Potter, and I honestly don't know how to reply. What on earth is going on?

Slughorn has now finished his 'oohing' and 'aahing' over Snape and Juliet De Vere's Draught of Living Death and has finally made his way over to Black's and my desk. Upon seeing our potion Slughorn's face contorts into what can only be described as the quite possibly unrepeatable 'golly-goodness-Merlin-the-Great-and-Most-Powerful-will-never-be-able-to-create-crystallized-pineapple-lumps-more-incredible-than-this-moment-in-time-that-I-here-am-witnessing-today-where-Sirius-Orion-Black-has-shown-great-talent-in-something-other-than-tomfoolery-and-misdemeanor-and-I-can-die-a-happy-man' look.

If he hadn't caught a look at Lily's potion, the steam gently rising in those loosely coiled puffs of iridescent sparkliness, I swear he might have given us the 60 points on the spot (because who cares about Snape's perfect potion when Sirius Black has actually accomplished something).

Sadly, Slughorn did, and exclaimed with great vigour, "Well, well, what have we here? Mr Black and Mr Potter both creating almost, if not perfect amortentia? I can only guess that Mr Potter's luck came from the assistance of the lovely Miss Evans, although I'm not entirely sure how you managed to pull it off, Mr Black."

We all look slightly offended, bar Lily, who's grinning like the bloody Cheshire Cat.

"Class, I must insist you all come over here to look at Mr Potter and Miss Evans' amortentia! It is simply the best I have ever seen! And once you've completed that task, make sure to bottle up at least two vials each of your potion for marking."

Well at least I'll get a good grade.

"The sixty points go to the head boy and girl, for Gryffindor!"

 **Wednesday**

 **September 10, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

It's lunch now, and I'm avoiding Black, who is obviously very mad at me for not being able to beat Lily, which is completely understandable.

And by obviously mad, I mean, I think he's mad. After Slughorn left, he and Potter had this really intense eye conversation which ended with them both slowly turning around and sitting very quietly in their seats.

I can only imagine this is because Black needs quiet time in order to plot my imminent death, and if not death, to plot my imminent destruction.

I know I've already mentioned it today, but I'm going to do it again. EVERYONE IS ACTING ABSOLUTELY BLOODY UNUSUAL TODAY! It's making me feel ill.

Lily's nowhere to be found; she disappeared sometime between transfiguration and lunch, and so Lottie and I are eating in amicable silence. Lottie, for some reason, must be a whole lot more observant than me, because after I asked her if she had any idea what was going on she just tilted her head to the side, laughed, and said, "It will all become clear in time, Eva. Just you wait and see."

WHAT THE BLOODY MERLIN IS THAT SUPPOSED TO EVEN MEAN?

I think Lottie's been paying a bit too much attention in divination; not that Professor Selwyn is a bad teacher, but, well, it's divination.

Speaking of divination, I have it after lunch, after charms. We're probably going to have to do a bloody moon interpretation again.

 **Thursday**

 **September 10, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Common Room**

It's sometime after dinner, and for some odd reason, there's a large congregation of us seventh-years just sitting around the biggest fireplace in the common room. I'm squished in between Lily and Lottie on the small sofa, Marley, Alice, Black and Peter are sitting on the ground in front of us, Remus has a couch to himself, for some bizarre reason, and Potter keeps switching between the ground, the other couch, and Remus' couch. He's obviously too immature to understand the finer points of growing older.

Speaking of growing older, mum seems to be doing the same thing. I haven't gotten a single letter since her 'first day' one, and poor Selene's probably awfully bored up in the owlery all by her lonesome. I should probably visit her at some point, you know, because that's what nice pet owners do and all.

Anyway, we're all gathered here today, as Potter eloquently puts it, to celebrate his "victorious triumph over the weak-minded, greasy-haired, pureblood fanatic terrorist breeder, ex-potions-pro Slytherin that is Snivellus Snape."

Naturally, Potter is quite proud of his achievement of triumphing over his mortal enemy in what is seen as his enemy's home turf, and he somehow managed to sneak butterbeer in to celebrate. If anyone asks, we're all drinking pumpkin juice.

I think Lily's chosen not to drink in protest of her dwindling yet still-there relationship with the mortal enemy in question, yet I don't see her berating Potter for his beautiful rendition of Hogwarts' school song. I'm not entirely sure why that was his song of choice, I mean, it's not particularly relevant to anything, but who knows when it comes to James Potter. Who bloody knows?

"Evelyn," says Black all of a sudden. "Guess what time it is!"

Oh, Merlin. I'd forgotten about detention. At least I have patrols with Remus tonight!

"Time to finally admit you're a git and a half?"

"Oh, Evelyn, you must have me confused with someone else," Black grins as he grabs my hand and pulls me off of the sofa, "I admitted that years ago! So long, Prongs, Moony, Wormtail, entourage! Places to be, people to do, that sort of thing!"

"Enjoy detention," Lottie snickers.

Potter hi-fives Black over my head.

Funny.

I trudged grudgingly after Black, ignoring the hoots and hollers coming from Potter's direction, only stopped by a loud 'thwack' and a consecutive 'ouch'I can only assume was Lily's work.

Gotta go, diary.

 **Thursday**

 **September 10, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Common Room**

Whoever came up with the brilliant idea of giving birth to Sirius Black obviously didn't expect him to come out as a bloody annoying prancing Gryffindor with no respect for privacy and no idea of the concept of personal hygiene. You get within three feet of him and the smell of wet dog goes right up your bloody nostrils.

Anyway. Detention.

Filch had us polishing trophies again, which isn't really fun when Black is so full of energy he can't stand bloody still, and so spent half of the time singing (terribly, I might add) to the tune of a song by the Phoenix Fiends (You've Put a Hex on My Feet, if I remember correctly), except changing the lyrics to more of a serenade to the giant squid who lives in the Black Lake.

The other half of the time he kept trying to talk to me, which I tried my best to discourage. Like, he kept asking me these weird and irrelevant questions, like, "So, Evelyn, how was your potions experience?"

"Uh, it was normal? Average? It's just potions, Black. Aside from your frustrating presence there was nothing out of the ordinary."

"Oh, well, okay," Black replied, hopping on one foot to the other. "There were no, uh, interesting revelations of any kind? No interesting, uh, smells?"

"If you're referring to our potion Black, I'm not going to tell you anything."

What an idiot. He'll probably tease me into tomorrow if he knew I smelled bloody flowers. He'll probably pick them and give them to me as some sick prank. Git.

"I'll tell if you tell," he grins.

Tempting, but no. Actually it's not tempting, because I would have to have some small smidgen of care for Black, and I don't. Obviously.

We kind of worked in silence after that.

Now I'm sitting anxiously in the common room, waiting for Lily and Potter to come back from their patrol, so Remus and I can go.

I don't know where Remus is, and, well, actually, I don't know where anybody is. It's almost 11, and I'm tired but you know, sleep or Remus? I don't even need to write the answer down, it's so bloody obvious.

Where is he?

Oh, wait, the common room door's opening... Remus! Thank Merlin! He looks awfully disheveled though; he's got bags under his eyes and his hair is tousled in that way that looks like I've just run my hands through it, not, of course, that I have done that, but if I did, that's what it would look like.

Anyway.

He spots me and smiles and I could melt on the spot. "Oh, hey Eva. Didn't see you there. I've just got to go clean myself up a bit and then we'll go, shall we?"

"Oh, no, it's fine. You needn't clean yourself up for me."

He grabs the bottom of his jumper and brings it up to his face before sniffing it and wrinkling his nose. "No, I really ought to get changed at least."

"Oh, well, sure then, if you want."

He cares about what I think of him. How sweet.

He runs up the stairs just as Lily and Potter come into the common room. It's so quiet you could probably hear the wings of Potter's bloody snitch beating if he let it loose in here, and it feels awfully tense all of a sudden.

Lily looks pale but flushed at the same time. Maybe she's coming down with a cold? I should let Pomfrey know to look out for her. Potter just... well... it's bizarre actually, he just, well, looks... subdued. Not his usual arrogant self. In fact, by the colour of his cheeks one could say that he was blushing.

Could this day get any more bloody unusual?

"Oh, hi Eva," Lily says, looking startled. "I didn't see you there."

That does seem to be a trend tonight.

"Yeah, uh, where's Moony?" Asks Potter, rocking back on his heels, still standing with Lily in the doorway.

"Here I am, dearest Prongs," Remus shouts, jumping (I kid you not) down the stairs. "I am prepped and ready to rumble."

Potter raises an eyebrow. "Well, that's, that's good for you mate. Enjoy your patrol, I'm heading upstairs."

"Great." Remus grins at me, "Shall we go, Eva?"

"We shall."

 **Thursday**

 **September 10, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dormitary**

So I've had the most ridiculous night, I mean, honestly!

It all started off well enough; Remus and I walking through the moonlit castle together, listening to the silence. He soon started asking me about the lesson, the potions lesson to be specific.

"So I saw that yours and Padfoot's potion was pretty good, right?"

"Yeah. Weird, right?"

Remus laughs, "Well not too weird. Sirius is quite clever when he decides to be. Not, of course, that you aren't perfectly competent yourself," he adds hurriedly.

"Oh, well, yeah."

Merlin, Eva. Could you be any more eloquent?

"So, uh, you made Amortentia, right?"

"Right, and you?"

"Oh, uh, Draught of Living Death. It wasn't nearly as good as Snape's though."

"Oh I'm sure it was."

"Sure."

It was a little bit silent after that.

Remus started up the conversation again by asking, "So, the uh thing with Amortentia, I've, well, noticed from my past experiences, is that it sort of conjures up particular smells."

I raise an eyebrow. "Are you trying to ask what my potion smelled like? Because I'll let you know you're not the first today."

Remus blushes and looks away. "Oh, no, I um. But, well, if you wanted to tell me, then..."

"No."

Do you think maybe he's asking because he wants to know if I smelled something of his? I didn't, now that I think about it. But it's the thought that counts, right?

"I'm asking for a friend though, so you can probably just forget this conversation ever happened."

Right. A friend.

There's no way any of his friends would be even minimally interested in the answer to that question though, so I think I know what's going on here, and I must say, I quite like it.

We walk for a bit after that, talking about mundane things like Muggle Studies and the fact that Professor Rowle's new haircut makes her look like Mary Goodnight from _Man With the Golden Gun._

Things really started to go awry when we had about half an hour to go. The only person we'd run into so far was a lone Ravenclaw who claimed he needed to go to the toilet. A likely story, considering the bowl of ice cream he had in his hand.

We had just gotten to the Astronomy Tower when I decided to go look out at the Black Lake from the window. I really do love the Astronomy Tower. That tower, the Black Lake, and the library are probably my three most favourite spots in Hogwarts.

Anyway. I was looking out the window just sort of thinking to myself, when my brain blurted, out loud, I might add, that, "the Astronomy Tower would be an awfully romantic spot for late-night snogging."

"Um, well, that's nice, Eva," said Remus awkwardly beside me.

"Well it would be," I said in protest. I mean it would. "You can see the moon nice and big and bright from here."

Remus stares out the window and then looks down at his hands, which I notice are clenched. "Yeah. It would be nice," he says before turning and walking back down the stairs.

Well that was weird? What's going on with him today?

Anyway, we're almost back to the common room when we hear a thud in a nearby broom closet, and someone giggling before another someone says a hushed, "Shut up."

Remus raises an eyebrow at me and opens the door to see, to everyone's shock, Black. Black standing there with his arms around a girl. I think her name is Aislin Murphy, she's one of Isadora James' Hufflepuff friends.

"Oh, uh sorry, mate," Black says, patting Remus' arm.

"What on earth are you doing?" Asks Remus, looking awfully annoyed.

I think I'm still processing.

Black raises an eyebrow. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"You know what, Sirius? When you asked me to help you, I thought you were going to take this seriously. I thought you actually meant it this time. You can't just, go around, doing this, at times like this. I've tried my best to, well, help you tonight, and where do I find you? In a broom closet, at 12 O'clock at night, with, uh, is that you Aislin?"

"Sure is," says Aislin.

"Well, no offense, Aislin, but get lost."

"Righteo," says Aislin, extrapolating herself from Black's grip. "Another time?"

Black says nothing.

Aislin leaves in the direction of the Hufflepuff common room.

"What on earth could have prompted you to think this was a good idea?"

Black says nothing but grins in my direction. "How's it going, Bishop?"

I glare. "It's bloody fantastic, actually. Bloody. Fantastic."

"Well don't get all upset on my account, will you? I mean, why would this be an upsetting situation?" Black grins again.

"It's not. Upsetting, that is. I'm just annoyed because you should be in bed so you can get a good night sleep."

"Is that so?" Black raises an eyebrow.

What the bloody Merlin was that Evelyn? Have you lost your bloody mind?

"Shut up, git."

"Come on, Sirius, go to bed. Don't make this a habit." Remus says, grabbing Black's elbow and dragging him down the hallway. "Sorry you had to see this Eva," Remus adds as he pulls Black into the Gryffindor Common Room. "I had a good time talking to you tonight though. Sleep well."

"Yeah, you too."

"A goodnight kiss for me?" Black asks, sidestepping Remus and coming awfully close to my face.

"Go stuff your head in a hippogriff, Black."

 _ **AN: SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE EVERYONE OH MY GOSH SO SORRY!**_

 **Basically I mean to update before I went to Africa but then I didn't have time and then when I got back I was swamped with work so I have only just had time but yeah so the ending is a bit rushed who knows if it's any good I certainly don't.**

 **But yeah, please comment your thoughts on the chapter!**

 **Also, kudos to Lexi for the "pureblood fanatic terrorist breeder" thing, in description of Snape. Hope you all liked that.**

 **There hasn't been a whole lot of Peter in it yet, so I'm trying to rectify that.**

 **Hope you enjoyed and please write anything in the comments that you found interesting or would like to see in the future!**

 **XXXXXXX**


	11. XI Everything Starts to Go Downhill

Monday

September 14, 1977

Gryffindor Common Room

So basically it turns out seventh years have a larger workload than I had first anticipated. On Friday McGonagall gave me an absolute whopper of an essay, and Mercier-Roussel set us about five feet of runes to translate, and I couldn't even pretend I didn't know what was going on and ask Remus for 'help' this time as neither of us actually had any idea what we were doing.

Luckily, Peter's quite good at sneaking around, and whilst Lily distracted Pince with her charm, he sneaked into the Restricted Section and got some books for us all to use. Not quite sure why there would be books we need for our homework in the Restricted Section, but, well, I'm not going to not use the books because of that.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I have had absolutely no time this weekend, and spent the time I wasn't doing homework in detention, and the sparse moments I had left were spent staring at Remus.

I'm just about to go down for breakfast, and I thought I'd just quickly write this all down, because Black's rejoined DTB and knowing him, he'll probably do something completely idiotic and I'll have to record it in my diary.

Monday

September 14, 1977

Great Hall

As I expected, Black is sitting at the Gryffindor table when I arrive, talking amicably with DTB, probably about murder or something immature like that. Oh, wait, huh. Peter's there too.

"Evelyn, nice of you to join us," Black smiles as I sit down.

"We're just discussing how long we think Binns is going to make it here," says Peter, his hair an alarming shade of green. "We know he's a ghost and all, but would he notice if people just stopped turning up to his classes due to the fact that they're so mind-numbingly boring?"

"Yeah," Black says, "Would he notice if no one turned up and instead Dumbledore had hired a new teacher and we were all taught by that teacher. Would he just keep teaching an empty classroom?"

"I reckon he might," replies DTB. "He probably wouldn't notice if you all stood on your desks and started chanting 'the Great and Powerful Merlin is a Bloody Git' for the entire lesson.

"Uh, hate to interrupt this, thrilling conversation," I say, "but is your hair supposed to be that colour, Peter?"

"Huh?" He looks confused. "Oh, yeah, it's green, isn't it."

"That was the handiwork of Snivellus," says Black with a grin. "We were going to change it back and hex him but we thought we'd make more of a point if people kept asking Wormtail here about his hair. Bloody git, that Snivellus is."

"Well I think it's a marvellous idea, shoving it in everyone's faces and all. Sticking it to the man, as they say," says DTB as she stands up, "but I'm afraid I have some early-morning study to do so I'll see you all at a later date, quidditch practice perhaps?"

Oh, great. Quidditch practice tonight.

Once DTB is out of sight, Black leans over the table and rests his head on his hands, staring at me. And keeps staring. I glance at Peter but he just shrugs.

"Uh, Black? What are you doing?"

"Evelyn."

"...Yes?"

"Evelyn Katherine Olivia Bishop."

"You have an Olivia in your name?" Asks Peter

"No," I say. (I do have an Olivia in my name).

"Evelyn," says Black again, still staring at me.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Black! What do you want?"

"I have an extremely important question to ask you, in fact, it's been weighing on my mind for quite a while," he sighs dramatically. "It's rather important to me."

Why is he like this, please, would someone tell me? "Out with it, will you?"

"Evelyn," He pauses. "Will you snog me for 15 galleons?"

"Oh, shut up, Black."

"Shut doesn't go up, Evelyn."

"Yeah? Well my fist can."

Black leans back rather hurriedly as Peter erupts in laughter.

And that's enough of that I think, so I shall leave and let Peter try and put up with the bloody menace that is Sirius Black.

Monday

September 14, 1977

Potions Classroom

I'd forgotten I have potions first thing.

Lily and Potter are still acting weirdly. First of all, Lily barely acknowledged me when I said 'hi' to her and Lottie just looked at me with an annoyingly knowing look when I asked her what was going on.

Black was his normal not subdued self all lesson. It was quite annoying really. Poor Slughorn. He finally thought Black was going to make some sort of effort in his potions. Alas, it was not to be.

I'm secretly doing my Ancient Runes essay although I probably should be working on the research for my hiccoughing solution. Black isn't a particularly good study-mate, although I'm sure he's good at something, I kind of tend to do my best to ignore him in all the classes that we have together. Anyway, the point is, he doesn't care that I'm not working as he's too busy conspiring with bloody Potter about something-or-other.

Lily's the only one of us doing the correct work, it would seem.

Monday

September 14, 1977

Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom

So in DADA we're still looking at werewolves. I'm not entirely sure what the point of this subject is, exactly. Is Murphy trying to educate us on the so called dangers of werewolves? Because they don't seem particularly dangerous unless we decide to walk into a werewolf den on a full moon. I mean, who would do that, right? Anyhow, Professor Murphy said that next week we're moving onto non-verbal defensive spells, which I'm rather looking forward to.

I narrowly avoided Mercier-Roussel's withering gaze in Ancient Runes. I mean it's not even due until Wednesday, but since I have done approximately 23% of my assignment, I spent the entire lesson hoping she wouldn't pick on me.

Anyway, DADA. I'm sitting with Lottie at my desk, but she's in the middle of a conversation with Elena Prinz, that Ravenclaw who she's friends with in Care of Magical Creatures. I'm not particularly good at CoMC, hence why I don't do it, but apparently Elena has 'the magic touch' with unicorns or something. If I went near a unicorn it would probably spear me with its horn and then trample over my dead body.

But that's beside the point. Basically, Lottie is unintentionally ignoring me, bloody terrible desk mate that she is, and Lily sits with Marlene so there's not really anyone to talk to unless I want to walk to the other side of the room and sit with the marauders, which is out of the question, or I want to turn around and face Isadora James who is boring holes into the back of my skull.

Now that I think about it, confrontation isn't really something that I'm super keen on so I'm just going to ignore her. And I should probably do some of my Ancient Runes.

Monday

September 14, 1977

Great Hall

So after DADA Lily, Lottie and I went and dropped our books off and were heading to the Great Hall for lunch when we were intercepted by Erwyn Avery, Douglas Bulstrode, Severus Snape and Michael Nott.

"Ladies," sneered Avery, stepping out in front of the others.

"I would say gentlemen, but, well, that would be a lie," replied Lily, narrowing her eyes.

This was kind of an out of the ordinary experience. We did our best to ignore the Slytherins and whatever illegal activities they might be getting into, and they sneered in our direction and looked down on us. It was an incredibly healthy relationship.

"The lady makes an excellent point," adds Potter, who steps out from behind a tapestry; Black at his heels.

This was most definitely out of the ordinary. Last time I checked the Bloody Prat Duo hadn't taken to following us places, but what do I know, right?

"We're trying to have a conversation here, Potter," says Avery, glaring at him. I notice all four Slytherins now have their wands out.

"Well spit it out then," Lily says warily.

"I'd rather do it privately. And I'm not really here to talk to you, Evans."

"What, is Lily not good enough for you?" Potter draws his wand too and he and Black move between us and the Slytherins.

"Awfully protective of your girlfriend, Potter?" Smirks Avery.

"I'm not his girlfriend," Lily says quietly in response.

Potter glances in Lily's direction and she flinches, almost indiscernibly. "Don't try and rile me up, Avery; it won't work."

"What, too perfect for that, Potter?" Snape's drawl joins the conversation. "Don't want Lily to see how ugly you really are?"

"Don't, Severus," says Lily glaring at him.

"Yeah, Snivellus." Potter narrows his eyes. "Don't."

"Evans calls and you answer, eh, Sev?" Says Avery, looking back at his friend in disdain.

"I don't care what the _mudblood_ thinks," Snape says, "I'd never dirty myself like that."

The corridor goes quiet.

"There goes your final chance, Snivellus," Lily says, breaking the silence, her eyes cold. "Talk to me again and I won't hesitate to curse you into oblivion. No. If you dare to even look at me, much less come near me, I'll make sure you end up in St Mungo's for the rest of your bloody life."

Snape flinches and his eyes seem to soften.

"I think we're done here," says Lily, grabbing me and Lottie by the arms. We walk away, Potter and Black following like guards.

"I wasn't finished!" Yells Avery. "I'll talk with you later, Bishop."

What?

"Not if I can help it," mutters Black under his breath.

So here we are, all five of us, silently eating lunch in the great hall. It's very odd; much like the conversation that we just had.

First of all - the Slytherins wanting to talk to me about something. What's that all about?

Second of all - Lily and Potter acting weirdly again.

Third of all - Potter and Black popping up out of the blue. The only way they would have known that we were there is if they were already behind the tapestry, or if they had checked that map they made. And if they checked that map it means that at least one of them was looking specifically for at least one of us. Curiouser and curiouser.

Fourth of all - Lily and Snape. I mean I knew they'd been rocky for a while, ever since fifth year when he called her a mudblood for the first time, but I honestly believe she's done with him this time. I mean, I understand they were childhood friends or whatever, but that is one slimy Slytherin. Slimy to the very core.

Monday

September 14, 1977

Gryffindor Girls Dorm

It's after dinner and thankfully the rest of the day went by without any drama - McGonagall seemed quite pleased with me after I handed up my essay early, and now Gryffindor is two points higher up the points chain. Black and I did our detentions early today, and separately, thank Merlin. I had to help Professor Kettleburn shovel some sort of animal faeces that would explode under direct moonlight. It was pretty gross. At least it was drama-free.

Oh wait, no, I spoke too soon. Here's Lily and Lottie, scrambling up the stairs as if the school's on fire.

"Eva," Lottie shouts, despite being only three feet away from me. "You'll never guess what happened!"

"Professor Binns has suddenly decided to actually die and History of Magic is going to become a enjoyable subject because the new teacher has thoughts and emotions?"

Lottie seems confused. "No, but-"

"Douglas Bulstrode was expelled," interrupts Lily, grabbing me by the arm and hauling me up off my bed."

"Yeah," Lottie says grabbing my other arm, "Come down to the common room, the boys are about to tell the story!"

Great. I manage to grab my diary, quill and ink before being pushed down the stairs. The common room is almost bursting - it seems like every Gryffindor in the history of Gryffindor is packed in there. I see Potter and Black standing on top of a levitating sofa; Remus, Peter, Alice and Marley with their wands out.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I must ask for absolute silence!" Black whips his wand out and waves it in the air, causing a sea of gold sparks to float around the room. "I know that you must all be very curious to hear what we have to say-"

"Yeah, so get on with it!" Yells a voice from the crowd.

Laughter ensues.

Potter points his wand threateningly at the crowd.

The crows hushes.

"As I was trying to say," grins Black, "You must all be very curious to hear our story, the tragic tale of Douglas Bulstrode, so, we shall begin.

"Earlier, on this very night, whilst our esteemed staff were eating dinner," begins Potter in a hushed tone. Lottie grips my arm in excitement, "A group of four Gryffindors were minding their business in the charms corridor on the sixth floor, when we saw a shadow cross our path.

"That shadow," Black says, "was none other that Douglas Bulstrode, attempting to sneak his way into the chambers of our very own Professor Flitwick.

"Those Gryffindors were hidden behind a tapestry, unbeknownst to Master Bulstrode, who was muttering a series of spells upon the locked door. Much to our surprise, the villain successfully opened the door, and slithered his way inside, doing who knows what.

"We, of course, were about to hasten away and hint towards Flitwick that there _might_ have been a Slytherin intruder, when suddenly and silently, none other than the esteemed charms teacher, Professor Filius Flitwick himself, along with the frightful Minerva McGonagall, the forceful Edwin Murphy and the beautiful Albus Dumbledore, came down the corridor.

"It took about five minutes of waiting, with the Hogwarts brigade patiently standing outside the door with their wands out, before Bulstrode came stumbling out, a small box clutched in his hands, and a swarm of very angry birds pecking at his face."

At this point in time the room is dead silent. Even now I still find myself being increasingly surprised that the students of this school somehow are impressed, and dare I say it, idolise these psycho individuals.

"McGonagall removes the birds with a flick of her elegant wrist," Black swoons, falling back into the couch.

"And the bloody git, no, apologies for my language, the miscreant looks hopefully into the face of his saviour, only to see a very angry transfiguration professor staring at him, and I know my good mate Sirius here would agree, that this situation's bound to make any man go weak at the knees."

Black lifts his head weakly in agreement.

"And in the face of that stare, that deathly frightening glare, Bulstrode's eyes roll back and in a dead faint he hits the floor with a bang!"

Peter shoots stars out of his wand for effect.

The crowd jumps in alarm.

Someone steps on my foot.

"And that, my fellow Gryffindors, is the story of Douglas Bulstrode, the weak-kneed miscreant who stole a mysterious item from Flitwick's office and almost lived to tell the tale!"

With a final wave of Peter's wand the room goes black. When someone lights it up again the four Marauders are nowhere to be seen. Typical show-offs.

"Well that was certainly something," beams Lottie. "They sure do know how to tell a story, don't they?"

"Well there's certainly something to say for dramatic effect," Lily says, a somewhat impressed look on her face.

"Well to add my two cents," I say, "I'd rather they'd have just told the story straight. They left out most of the relevant information anyway."

"Well I can fill that in for you if you'd like, Evelyn Dearest," says a voice in my ear.

I aim my elbow behind me.

The invisible person groans.

"There's no need to be so touchy," Black says, "Grab the others and meet us on the seventh floor, across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy."

Sadly, my curiosity wins out.

Monday

September 14, 1977

The Room of Requirement

After grabbing Lily, Lottie, Marley and Alice, we made our way up to the seventh floor, where we met a pacing Remus Lupin outside of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy.

"Ahh, good. You're all here," he smiles, flashing his teeth. "Now hold on a jiffy while I... well, you'll see."

Remus steps away from us and faces the blank wall opposite. With a determined look on his face he walks past it, once, twice, three times. All of a sudden an ornate door forms on the wall, and Remus opens it, turning to us, "Well are you going to come in?"

Too surprised to say anything, we go in.

The room is reasonably large, with a crackling fireplace and three large couches making a sort of circle around it.

Peter is sitting close to the fireplace and Potter and Black are jumping on the couches. Potter suddenly trips, and instead of falling flat on his face, rolls, jumps up, and bows in our direction.

It's possibly the worst thing I have ever seen in my entire life.

"Ladies, how we welcome your presence," Potter purrs, "feel free to sit upon a couch of your choosing, or, if you somehow have something _better_ to do, do not feel inclined to stay."

"Oh cut out the theatrics, Potter," Lily says, but I can see she's smiling.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't mind a bit of dramatic performance," Alice adds, "but I think you can turn it down a notch now, alright, James?"

"As the ladies wish," Potter bows once more and then jumps back onto the couch.

"Evelyn, over here!" Black pats the spot next to him on the couch. I narrow my eyes at him and go and sit next to Remus.

"So what's the deal with Bulstrode?" Marley asks once we're all comfortable.

"Well we didn't want to say everything in front of everyone," Remus replies, "I mean we didn't want the firsties to start getting any ideas, and we can't just go leaking this information to just _anyone._ "

"We don't need any more Gryffindors running around and making trouble," Lily says in response.

Peter stands up from his perch in front of the fireplace. His hair is still an alarming shade of green. "Obviously Bulstrode knew some advanced charms to open the door, which he must have gotten from an outside source," he glances at the other Marauders to confirm his statement.

"Right," Remus says, "I never really pegged Bulstrode as being particularly bright."

I suddenly have a flashback to Hol Buggery being harassed by Bulstrode in the woods, and later asking me for unlocking charms. My stomach folds over.

Remus continues, "It seemed that he triggered some sort of silent alarm when the door opened, which is why the Professors were able to get there so quickly, and the birds were probably a precaution on the object he stole."

"What was it? Do you know?" Lottie asks.

"The only thing McGonagall said after he fainted was _'How did he know about the ring?',_ and then Dumbledore muttered something about it blocking enchantments."

Something suddenly clicked in my brain, and I remembered a book I'd read on King Arthur for Muggle Studies last year. "You don't think they meant the Ring of Dispel, do you?"

"Of course!" Remus' eyes open wide and he grins, "I don't know why I didn't think of that, I mean it makes complete sense now that you-"

"Hate to interrupt," Black interrupts, "but what is the Ring of Dispel?"

"It's from Arthurian legend," I say, "the Lady of the Lake gave it as a gift to Sir Lancelot. It stops... Well, it's rumoured to dispel magic, hence the name."

"Which means...?" Lottie prompts.

"It means that the wearer would most likely be invincible to any magic used against them."

Everyone pauses, as if to let the information sink in. "You don't think," Peter says, "that he would want it for _You-Know-Who,_ do you?"

"That, I'm afraid, is exactly what we think," says Potter.

There'd been no mention of Voldemort for months. So far he'd been building his group of 'death-eater' buddies and attacking small groups of muggles, but no mass killings or anything. He went to Hogwarts about thirty years ago - a Slytherin, and Head Boy as well. There were even rumours going around at one point that he was the heir of Slytherin. The point, however, is that Voldemort had made it clear that he thought us muggleborns weren't fit to be wizards, and enough people agreed with him to make it somewhat unsafe for anyone who isn't pureblood to just roam around in recent months. Hogwarts, at least, is safe.

"But Voldemort hasn't done anything for months!" Interjected Lily. "And besides, there's no way that he'd get a student to try and break in to Flitwick's office, especially with Dumbledore around. Bulstrode probably just wanted the ring, if it even is the Ring of Daspol, or whatever it is."

"Dispel," I mutter under my breath.

"You're basing this off the assumption that you know how Voldemort thinks, Evans," says Black, suddenly standing up. "I can't say I've ever been acquainted with the man himself, but knowing my... knowing the families and the type of people that I grew up with, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was sending students to do his dirty work. I mean, they're already at Hogwarts, so he doesn't need anyone to infiltrate the castle, and many of them would have family members in his inner circle."

"It's beyond me why they sent Bulstrode in to do the dirty work though," says Potter. "I wasn't aware he was bright enough to transfigure a matchbox into a teacup, let alone do complicated charms. Where did he even learn to do them?"

The unsettling feeling in my stomach starts to worsen.

"I, uh, I might be able to clear that up for you," I say uncertainly. "Black fixes his beady little gaze on me. "Well last, I think it was Sunday, Lily, Lottie and I were in the Forbidden Forest," Black raises his eyebrows, "And we came across what sounded like some of the Slytherins threatening Hol Buggery."

Black looks at me in what seems to be utter confusion, "And you're choosing just now to tell me?"

"Um, yeah?"

"Let her tell the story, Sirius," Remus shoots a very McGonagall-esque look in his direction.

"And, well, maybe on Monday he asked me if I knew any advanced unlocking spells, and, I mean, I wasn't going to help him because it all seemed quite fishy, but I was bored because everyone else was doing something else, and so I told him to ask Flitwick, but he told me that Flitwick told him that I was the best charms student and that he should ask me instead and so, I mean, if someone tells you that Flitwick thinks you're his best student then you're gonna feel a little bit distracted, so I kind of just... told him a couple of spells?"

Black and Potter sigh in unison.

"Not to worry, Eva," smiles Alice reassuringly, "it didn't really do any harm, and now Dumbledore knows that the Slytherins are up to something, so it's really for the best after all. Besides, those two incidents are probably completely unrelated."

"Yeah."

I still feel sick.

"Merlin's bloody beard, is that the time?" Potter suddenly shouts, leaping to his feat and jumping over the other side of the couch. "We'll talk about more evil plots and Slytherins another day, alright? McKinnon, Bishop, we have quidditch practice!"

You know, if I was captain, we wouldn't be running late like this. Oh well, I've got to run.

 _AN:_ Thank you so much for reading this chapter!

Sorry it took like half a year to get out I'm a terrible person and I promise the next one will be out HEAPS sooner! Please comment any ideas you have for the story or anything that you think is going to happen, because I'm always ready to hear ideas!

XXX


	12. XII Merlin-Bloody-Bollocks-Eating-Grim

**Thursday**

 **September 17, 1977**

 **Library**

I awakened earlier than normal this morning because I've been so bloody busy lately with all my N.E.W.T preparation work that I barely have time to brush my teeth, let alone write in my precious diary. I can't handle all of this disjointedness. Soon enough I'm probably going to be so busy I will have to write multiple days at a time, and that wreaks havoc on my perfectionism.

Anyway, this week's been going as usual, aside from the Bulstrode thing. Dumbledore announced his expulsion during dinner the following day - said he was endangering the lives of other students. From my vantage point I could see Avery exchange an awfully unpleasant look with Nott and Snape, and something in that look told me that this was only the start of the 'student endangerment'. No one's mentioned anything about the ring.

Detention is same old, same old. Black attempts to make conversation and I attempt to ignore him. It's for the best, really, because he has this habit of saying things that make me annoyed and then he might end up with bats flying out of his nostrils, and that's not really much fun for anyone.

Luckily, our detentions end on Sunday, so only four more days of certified horror to go!

I guess the only unusual thing was the four boys all falling asleep in class yesterday. I mean, they do this at least once a month, but why? I don't know. Maybe they're performing some sort of cult sacrifice under the full moon. To be perfectly honest, I don't want to know.

 **Thursday**

 **September 17, 1977**

 **Muggle Studies**

After the unfortunate incident with the paperweight, Professor Bunt has taken to mostly ignoring me in class, which is good because it gives me more time to stare at Remus, but also bad because it means that Bunt avoids answering any of my questions. I mean, I may be a muggleborn but I haven't exactly memorised the details of the British muggles' political system. I mean, just because you accidentally send someone to the hospital wing doesn't mean you have to act awkward around them _forever._

"Eva," Remus suddenly turns to me, "can I talk to you about something? It's sort of personal, so if you don't want to know, then speak now or forever hold your peace."

There are a very large amount of things I want to say in this moment, ranging from screaming like a pterodactyl to proposing in twelve different languages, but I decide to go with the timeless, "Sure, go ahead."

Be still my beating heart.

"Well, I mean I talked to the guys about this, but James and Sirius only sort of know her, and Peter not at all, so out of all my friends, you probably know her the best."

I'm confused. "Who?"

"Dorcas." His face suddenly glows red.

Excuse me? "Dorcas as in Dorcas the Betrayer?"

He raises a perfect eyebrow, "Dorcas the what?"

"Dorcas the quidditch player."

He lowers his perfect eyebrow, "Right. Anyway, we've been getting to know each other better this year, I mean, she's sixth year so we don't have any of the same classes, but we see each other in the library and the common room and, well, that's not the point."

I have an awful feeling about this.

"The point being," he sighs, "is that next weekend is Hogsmeade weekend, and I, well I wanted to ask her to come with me, and out of everyone I know, you know her best. So, do you think if I asked, she'd say yes?"

There are so many things I could say in this moment. So. Many. Things. Below details a short list of the ideas that were floating through my head at the exact moment he asked the question.

 _ **A List Pertaining to the Indecision of E. K. O. Bishop in Regards to a Question Asked by R. J. Lupin concerning D. ?. Meadowes.**_

1\. I'm sorry to tell you Remus, but I think that that is a terrible idea. Dorcas would never go out with you. Ever. In fact it was only this morning at breakfast that she told me she despises you.

2\. Pterodactyl screeching.

3\. _Absoluutselt mitte_ (which may or may not be Estonian for absolutely not).

4\. The sound an adult tricycle makes whilst being hacked up with a blunt, rusty axe and simultaneously dragged across the pavement.

5\. Yes? Also, no?

6\. Excusez-moi? Voulez-vous que je meure de chagrin? C'est bon, je vais juste pleurer de dormir toute la nuit pendant trois ans.?

7\. Go for it. If it will make you happy, then go for it.

Sadly, after about five seconds of thought, I decided the Gryffindor thing would be to be brave and do the right thing by my friend, so I reluctantly went with option 7. Why do I have to be a 'good person' or whatever. It's really cramping my style.

"You reckon?" Asked Remus after considering my response.

I mentally heaved a sigh. "I do*."

 _(*see The Short, Illustrated Handbook of Double Meanings VIII, written and illustrated by Colonel R. L. Poppywinckle)_

 **Thursday**

 **September 17, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

After the somewhat disastrous conversation of Muggle Studies, Potions and Transfiguration seemed somewhat dull in comparison. The only thing of interest was Isadora James and Aislyn Murphy accidentally blowing up their cauldron. I mean, she may think she's somewhat good at Charms, or whatever, but she's dating Hol Buggery, so I'm not entirely sure her opinion can be trusted. Anyway, it seems she's rubbish at potions.

It's lunch time, and Lottie is napping in her plate of eggs, as usual. What is not usual, however, is the noticeable lack of one Sirius Black. Not of course, that he has a noticeable presence, which he certainly does _not,_ but he has a noticeable habit of annoying me, and the other three Marauders are here at lunch, playing some silly game with Peter's owl, and I am yet to be annoyed.

Anyway, I don't care where he is. He's most likely off in a broom cupboard with Aislyn Murphy. Better yet, he'd be off with Isadora James. That would mean 1) Hol Buggery would get his come-uppance for whatever he tried to pull with me (however I have an inkling that dating Isadora James is come-uppance enough, but who am I to judge the dynamic of their relationship), 2) Isadora _Lames_ (good one, Eva) would get her heart broken by the non-committal floozy that Black is, and 3) Black delves deeper into his pit of promiscuity and romantic alienation.

A win-win-win if I don't say so myself.

On a different note, I only noticed it just recently, because I've been so distracted lately, that Selene hasn't delivered any mail since my first day. When Remus turned up to Muggle Studies today he had a fresh scar on his neck, which he said was from his owl, which reminded me about mine. My owl, that is. Not my scar. Not that I have any scars. I do, however, have a birthmark in the shape of a dog on my right foot.

Anyway, Lily has just suggested I go check on her at the owlery, so I've decided to go do that. My mother can hardly be trusted to do anything except send mail at least one a week, and when that doesn't happen, it means something's up.

 **Thursday**

 **September 17, 1977**

 **Charms**

So one of the worst things that could ever happen to me ever has just happened (that is if we don't count the conversation in Muggle Studies).

I went up to the owlery to check on Selene as per Lily's suggestion, and upon entering the owlery, who did I see? For those of you playing along at home, if you guessed Sirius Black, you would be correct. The following encounter went as follows:

"Evelyn, fancy seeing you here," Black said upon my entering of the owlery. "I was just going about my business, but now that it's complete, I'll be off."

Upon further looking, I noticed, for some strange reason, Selene was perched next to him, and he had hurriedly tried to hide a small bag of owl treats away.

"Is... is that my owl, Black?"

Black tried to look confused. "Is it? How unusual. I had come up here to feed Peter's owl when she came over to me, so to be nice I gave her a treat."

"But Peter's owl is down in the great hall."

"Is it? Well I should best be getting down there then."

"Wait!" I notice Black attempting to slyly grab a piece of paper from Selene's claws, "That must be a note for me. What are you doing?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about Evelyn," Black says, edging towards the doorway, "so unless you have any immediate plans to snog me then I will bid you _adieu._ "

"Give it to me, Black." I stare him down.

"You might not like what you find, Evelyn," he replies, staring back, a somewhat fearful look in his eyes.

I hold out my hand and he haltingly inches his way across the floor. "Remember, you asked me to give this to you," he says, dropping the note into my hand, his face sombre.

At this point my brain feels like it's freezing over. Why would he have a message from my owl? Why would I not want to read it? Has something happened to someone? Oh, Merlin, has something happened to my mother? This all rushes through my head in the seconds it takes me to unfold the paper, and after reading what it contains, my heart sinks into my stomach.

It's even worse.

 _Dear Sirius,_

 _I'm so glad you received the batch of brownies I sent you - I trust you gave some to Evie as you promised, I know how much she loves them!_

 _I'm so happy to hear that you two are finally dating! Evie's told me so much about you, and I knew that from what she said that it was only a matter of time - I may only be a muggle but I still know how boys tease girls they're interested in. In the next break you must come over for dinner some time, and if you'd like you can bring those other boys you're friends with; you all sound like a bit of a rowdy bunch but I'm sure we can handle you!_

 _I still can't believe how quickly this all happened! It seemed only yesterday she was pining over that Remus fellow, but I knew that wouldn't last._

 _And thank you for sending that burn ointment! George says he's never seen a burn go away that quickly, and he's promised not to go near the stove for at least a month!_

 _Give our love to Evie, and tell her to write us back - I haven't heard from her since the first week!_

 _Love,_

 _Betty._

I. I don't. My brain is struggling to process everything that I have just read. Surely this is a dream. Surely this is just a very, very bad dream and if I close my eyes and then open them I'll be in my bed, safe and sound.

I close my eyes.

I open my eyes.

The first thing I see is Black sheepishly staring at me from the other side of the owlery. His face looks as if he is in a lot of pain. I hope he is.

"You know, Eva, this could have all been avoided if you had just looked after your owl, you know. That way this never would have happened."

"Excuse me?"

"Fair call, fair call," he backs away, heading closer towards the door, "I, um, well. I think I should just let you process this, and we can talk about it again when you're feeling less, murderous?"

"Sirius Black you abSOLUTE TWUNT HEAD!" I yell, and then pull out my wand. "WHAT IN MERLIN'S BLOODY NAME HAVE YOU BEEN DOING, YOU BLOODY GIT?"

By this point in time Black has made the somewhat sensible decision to flee the owlery, accidentally knocking over a prepubescent Gryffindor, so I have to pause and help him up before resuming the chase.

I run down the stairs, following the mop of black hair two flights below me. Suddenly that mop is gone, and there's about four tapestries where he was, and after checking, three of them have doors behind them, so it would be pointless to try and follow him.

The events of lunch are, I suppose, why Black has not yet made an appearance in Charms. After debating whether or not to try and hunt him down, it was time for class, and as much as in that moment I hated Black, I loved Charms more, and decided to see what Lily and Lottie thought of the situation.

"So this is the note?" Lily asks after I told her and Lottie the story.

I nod reluctantly.

"So your mum thinks you and him are..." Lottie trails off, looking concerned.

I nod again, reluctantly.

"How long do you think they've been writing each other?" Lily asks. "I mean, it's only been two weeks since the beginning of term, so it's not like it could have been for a long time, right?"

"Knowing my mother, she's probably sent a letter every day, and knowing Black, he's probably replied every day."

"You're not going to... kill him, are you?" Lottie asks hesitantly, "I mean, you can easily write your mum and tell her that you're not actually together, and she can definitely send some more brownies... it's just that, well, he knows about Remus."

Oh, Merlin. In the horror of seeing correspondence between my mother and Black I hadn't considered the Remus issue.

"I'll get Potter to make sure he doesn't say anything, Eva, don't worry," smiles Lily reassuringly.

Lottie raises an eyebrow in her direction.

"What? We talk, you know. You kind of have to when you're Head Boy and Girl. Besides, he already knows about the Remus thing, and he hasn't said anything for a reason, so I'm sure that he can convince the prat not to breathe a word."

"It'll be alright, Eva," Lottie pats my shoulder, "there are lots of worse things that could happen."

Lily laughs, "For example, your name could be Tilden Toots," she discreetly glances at the Hufflepuff in question.

"Or you could have to spend study sessions with Martin-George McGonagall."

"Isadora James could be better than you at charms."

"She's not," I say, momentarily distracted.

"There we go," smiles Lily. "It'll be alright. Focus on charms and then we can spend the afternoon researching curses that will switch his hands and feet."

Charms. I may not be able to have a stress-free life, but I can do charms.

 **Monday**

 **September 17, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dormitory**

So today has been a shambles. After the incident with Remus I thought there was no possible way that my day could get worse, but then the whole thing with Black and Selene and my _mother_ happened. Then I figured that there's definitely no way that my day could worsen, _but it did_. Normally I don't write about things that happen in Divination, because it's all absolute bull, but after the events of the lesson I just had? Well, it needs to be written.

I was enjoying myself as usual, sitting with Lily, Lottie, Alice and Peter, thinking of all the interesting ways I could die in my dreams so Professor Selwyn doesn't start catching on to the fact that I have absolutely no skill in Divination whatsoever. Selwyn had decided to go over advanced tea reading skills with us today, and for the sake of nostalgia she told us that she was going to read all of our tea leaves for a bit of fun.

It was all going well before she got to our table.

She read Lily's leaves and said that she saw some grass, which means that Lily will get some public recognition for her efforts, but the way that it was positioned meant that it would be in a few years time. Lucky Lily, she'll probably invent some sort of potion at 21 and her legacy will live forever.

Lottie got a club and a cross so she will soon be enjoying "an attack" and "trials and suffering" so good for her. Knowing Selwyn she'll probably give that one to every second person.

When she got to me, she paused for an awfully long time before saying something. "Evelyn, I, well I don't really think that I should be reading out your tea leaves, I'm worried they might upset you."

Because Lottie's "attack" and "trials and suffering" just made her feel warm and fuzzy inside? "No, it's quite alright. Hit me with it."

"You might want to sit down for this," Selwyn warned.

I was sitting down?

"I'm afraid, my dear, that you've got," she paused for dramatic effect, "you've got the Grim."

"The what?" I raised an eyebrow. If I had three eyebrows I would have raised two of them, but it doesn't work as well when you raise two eyebrows with only two eyebrows. Anyway.

All of a sudden, and to everyone's surprise, Peter started laughing.

Selwyn looked very alarmed. "The Grim is an omen of death, Mr Pettigrew. I fail to see why you find this funny."

"It's because," Peter managed to choke out between fits of giggles once he managed to finally calm down, "the Grim is a big, black dog, and Eva got it. She has the dog in her future."

Lily stifled a snort, and attempted to turn it into a cough at the last second.

"I think you need to be more serious, children-" Selwyn started, but was cut off by a renewed bout of laughter from Peter, who had been joined by Lily.

"Actually, Professor, I think we need less _serious_ , or at least Eva does anyway," choked Peter, tears streaming down his face.

After contemplation of this incident and reviewing exactly _why_ my so-called friends found this so funny, I have come to the conclusion that they are all completely bonkers, and need to have their brains checked out. I mean, it's not that funny. In fact, in my opinion, I don't think it's funny at all.

"This is an omen of death, now QUIET DOWN, students," Selwyn shrieked. "Twenty points from Gryffindor for your absolute callousness in the face of a very serious and terrible situation."

That sobered them down a bit.

"I'm not sure I can handle anything else this lesson, so you're all dismissed early," Selwyn said, fanning her face.

Poor Selwyn. She was just trying to look out for me, I guess.

We waited for Peter who was scribbling something down on parchment, his face still bright red, before we left the classroom, most of my friends struggling to breathe and me feeling absolutely bewildered.

Peter muttered something and the parchment disappeared to who knows where, and we started walking back to the common room.

"You know, guys," I said after they would not stop their incessant giggling. "I'm actually feeling quite offended that you're laughing about my imminent death."

"Oh do you honestly not get it, Eva?" Laughed Lottie. "Come on, just think about it."

"Yeah, Eva," Peter added, "I mean, it's been foretold. There's a Grim in your future, a black dog just waiting for you."

"Well I have no idea what they're on about, Eva," Alice chimed in. "They're all bonkers if you ask me." She patted my back reassuringly.

"I completely agree with everything that everyone is saying." Black suddenly appeared from behind a painting of Grilda the Great's defeat of the Troll Armies in 1512. "Except for Alice; even though she's right about having absolutely no idea what everyone's talking about, our friends are most definitely not _bonkers._ "

"Well some of them are your friends, Black," I replied.

"You wound me, Eva," Peter clutched at his heart. "I thought there was nothing I could do that would make you disregard our friendship."

"Oh shove off, Pettigrew."

Peter gasped loudly, "I'm actually considering taking twenty points from Gryffindor for your _absolute callousness_ in the face of a _very serious_ and _terrible_ situation."

"Okay, enough guys, enough," intervened Lily, who had recovered sufficiently to speak, it seemed. "Just know that today, on the seventeenth of September, in the great year of 1977, Professor Florence Selwyn told us all that Evelyn Katherine Olivia Bishop-"

"See! I knew you had an Olivia in your name," Peter interrupted.

Lily cleared her throat and shot a glare in Peter's direction. Black hit the back of Peter's head.

"As I was saying, this is the day that everyone here in this very hallway, bar Black, was personally informed by a somewhat credible seer that Eva has a large, _black dog_ in her future."

Like a light bulb flicking on, not that most people there would have known what a light bulb is, it all clicked. To be perfectly honest, I would rather the death option over any inkling or inclination that my future was going to have anything to do with Sirius Black.

I remember the day we all found out. It was the beginning of sixth year, and Lily, Lottie and I were arguing about Amos Diggory. He had broken up with me a month earlier to pursue more 'adult pursuits' or whatever that was supposed to mean. Lily was trying to tell me he was a git and he had been a git to me the whole time we were dating and I was just too blind to see it (but, I mean, he was a Hufflepuff, and Hufflepuffs never hurt anyone, right?).

I staunchly refused to believe that Amos Diggory, perfect Amos, Hufflepuff, Head Boy, would ever purposely seek to hurt me, and so I yelled at Lily that she had _absolutely no idea what she was talking about_ and she called me _a blind, oblivious imbecile_ and Lottie was trying to calm us down (and failing terribly). The whole situation was a complete shambles, to be honest.

I remember when Amos and I were dating that Black was particularly annoying, always getting up in my business and doing things to ruin my life. Amos told me that he thought Black had a crush on me, which was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard.

Anyway, I was annoyed at Lily, it was the wee hours of the morning, and Marlene and Alice had given up on getting us to shut up so had cast _muffliato_ on their beds to sleep. I was fed up and left the dorm where I decided, of course, that this whole situation was Black's fault, and if he hadn't kept annoying Amos he wouldn't have broken up with me, and Lily wouldn't be yelling. I stormed over to his dormitory and was about to give him a piece of my mind when I saw him, Potter and Peter, jumping around the room _as animals._ Remus was asleep on his bed, he looked awful, and almost as soon as I had thrown open the door it was slammed in my face.

I heard a fair amount of scuffling and muffled yelling before Black opened the door again, without a shirt on, mind you, as if he hadn't just been jumping around looking like a _dog._ They eventually spluttered out a story of becoming animagi - Peter, a rat, Potter, a stag, Black, a _black_ dog, and I was also informed that Remus' animagus form was a wolf. Potter offered to pay me off with fifty galleons if I kept my mouth shut, but I was too surprised to say anything and ran back to my dorm, where Lily was ignoring me and Lottie trying to sleep.

Obviously I told them, except it was the next morning, and the marauders were shooting furtive glances at me. Lily eventually got fed up and asked what the looks were about, and so without thinking I blurted out, "Black _revealed_ himself to me last night."

"That was oddly sexual," She replied.

Remus choked on his pumpkin juice.

Anyway, back to the present after that more than unnecessary flashback. I really need to get a grip. Okay. Present.

Whilst my juvenile friends were laughing about my so-called future with Black, I decided to high-tail it out of there, because after everything that had happened today, did I really need more negativity in my life? Thankfully they decided to let me unopposed, and the next time I ran into any of them was when I saw Black for detention, where he decided to ask if I would like peonies or roses at our wedding. I told him I'd like him to walk down the aisle with antlers on his head, and if he was so keen on discussing the details we could practice the antler bit now. That shut him up.

So that's the update for today. I'm about to leave for my night patrol with Lily, which shouldn't be at all eventful, so I shall bid you adieu, diary.

 _ **AN: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter - it was lots of fun to write and updated a whole lot faster than the previous chapter (thank Merlin for that, right?).**_

 _ **Special thanks to my awesome book wench (beta) Catriona who edits my work to look like I'm halfway decent at English, and also Izzie, who both helped develop ideas for this chapter. You're both great.**_

 _ **Anywho, thanks so much for reading, comment any ideas or thoughts you have on the story!**_

 _ **OXO**_


	13. Can We Cancel All Forms of Confrontation

**Sunday**

 **September 20, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girl's Dormitory**

It has just occurred to me that my birthday is just under two weeks away. All I can say is that I'm glad it falls on the weekend after the Hogsmeade trip because I'm not sure I would have been able to successfully cope with Remus and Dorcas on a _date_ or whatever tomfoolery he'd like to refer to it as on my 18th birthday.

In the wizarding world people don't really care as much when you turn eighteen, but I know that mum does. She's terribly disappointed she won't get to see me on the first day I enter my 'adult life' or whatever, but I can't say that I'm complaining. She'd make an awful fuss and there's only so much stress I can handle.

Anyway, Lily and Lottie want to have a party - they say because it falls on a Saturday it's the perfect opportunity for a party, but like - who would I even invite? My two friends? I'm just trying not to think about it really.

Also, not much to report from recent times, except for the fact that Black has been successfully avoiding me and my wrath. He knows I would never do anything to jeopardise my academic standing so he makes sure he's last to class and first to leave so that I can't hex his ears into frogs. He was even conveniently absent from Potions on Thursday because of 'sickness'.

Pomfrey wouldn't bend under my questioning. I told her I would make it a habit to come to the hospital wing every other day if she didn't tell me what Black was ailing from and she told me that it wouldn't make a difference seeing as it already was one of my apparent habits.

Why must Pomfrey treat me this way? I thought we were friends!

I'm slowly plotting different ways to get back at Black for his little mishap. My first idea was to get the pollen from some lilies and put it in all his clothes so when he puts them on his skin will stain the lovely colour of turmeric, and when he tries to remove the stains he will find that they are magic and cannot be removed, and then be forced to spend the next week or so with orange coloured skin.

I then thought I could do something far easier for much less effort, so I vetoed that idea. Lily's been giving me a bunch of ideas too - like the antler thing except a goats tail where his– well, I don't need to go into detail, but basically transfiguring others of his body parts into oddly shaped items. Lottie thinks I should just let it go because I'm finally finished my detentions and I don't really need any more. I think Lottie needs to sort out her priorities. Just because I'm a prefect and get good grades or whatever doesn't mean I have to lead by example.

McGonagall was kind enough to let me off a couple of detentions, so I finished them on Friday, thank Merlin. This means that I am finally free from spending at least an hour each day with Black and his disgusting face that looks frustratingly hexable whenever I see it.

Ugh.

Lottie tells me I should move past this whole incident with the letter and all, I mean I've written mother and told her that under no circumstances would Black and I ever consider dating, and I'm offended that she would think that in the first place, and that if she wishes to receive any further correspondence from me she should refrain from writing Black in the future.

She's yet to get back to me. It's been three days.

I mean I would _obviously_ like to move past this as it's really putting a strain on my mental health, and as a seventh year I really don't need any more issues weighing on my mind aside from whether or not I'm going to pass my NEWTs. Speaking of which, Mark Abery has contacted me again (he sent me a note via owl and I offered to give it to Lottie to keep, to which she raised an eyebrow and preceded to ignore me) and we're going to meet in ten minutes at the library to go over some charms things, which I should be preparing for.

So... I'm gonna do that.

 **Sunday**

 **September 20, 1977**

 **Library**

I've found a nice corner in the library conveniently in the Charms section, and now I'm just waiting for Mark Abery to show up. He's currently five minutes late. It's not like I have anything better to do at 10am on a Sunday morning.

Ahh, at last, he's here. Okay, wait, he's got Louise McKendrick with him.

No consideration whatsoever.

"Hey, Eva," he grins, sitting down at the table, Louise trailing behind him.

Dammit, Abery. He knows that smile is warm enough to melt butter, and well, you can consider me melted.

"Morning, Mark." I cough. "Louise."

"Oh, right yeah," he turns to smile at Louise behind him. "I brought Louise, she needs help with the stunning spell we're doing, and I know we said we were going to revise those banishing and disarming charms, but I thought we might have time to fit that in as well."

"I hope that's alright," Louise says, finally sitting down.

"It's just dandy. So, we'll start with banishing charms?"

The next forty-five minutes or so pass without incident, thank Merlin, but midway through a very eloquent and detailed speech about why you need to make sure you flick diagonally right instead of straight upward whilst using _expelliarmus_ I noticed Louise and Mark not paying attention and instead making eyes at each other from across the table.

I, of course, am a struggling NEWT student and don't need people in my life that don't fully appreciate my abilities and sacrifices so I can help them, so naturally, I have to say something.

"If you'd rather go make out in a broom cupboard instead of listening to the detailed and concentrated notes that I have collected over my past five years at this establishment then that is completely fine, but I'd rather you'd let me know before we started studying, rather than during or after."

To my pleasure, Louise's face turns the colour of her hair.

Mark Abery pauses as if processing the past ten seconds of his life and considering ever bad decision he's ever made.

"Um, well, I don't, um," splutters Louise.

"What she means to say," Mark says smoothly, "is that we are not currently engaged in any sort of relationship, and so that would be an uncomfortable situation for the both of us, especially as you have taken the time to help us this morning with your fascinating and well-thought out notes."

I start to smile and reply to the beautiful flattery that Mark Abery has just spoken to me when I am interrupted by a quiet, "We're not?" from the direction of Louise, her face now devoid of the colour it had just moments before.

It is in this moment that I realise that I either made a really good decision (they will work out their teenage angst and start dating or whatever) or a really bad one (they will have confronted this issue far too soon and be forever doomed to an awkward friendship that will eventually fizzle to a vague nod as they pass in the hallway).

"Um," says Mark Abery, seemingly stumped for words for possibly the first time in his life.

"Right," replies Louise before grabbing her books and vacating the library.

Mark Abery turns to face me, looking panicked. "Thanks Eva, and also sorry. I need to go do some damage control."

"Yes. Of course. Apologies if I said anything that upset anyone."

"It's quite alright," Mark smiles, "see you around."

Golly.

 **Sunday**

 **September 20, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

After that awful confrontation in the library I have decided to have an early lunch with Lily and Lottie, and they're supposed to meet me here, but just like the two from before, they're late.

Unfortunately, a special someone, also known as Sirius Black, has decided to have lunch at this time, and because I was here first, I can't leave, that would be admitting defeat.

It's just him and Potter, thankfully, because I couldn't bear it if Remus caught onto my angry vibes and thought I was angry at him for some reason (for example inviting DTB to Hogsmeade, which I heard from Lily that she said yes), because I am _definitely not mad at Remus._

GAH! Potter's nudging Black and they're both sending weird looks in my direction. I hope Lily and Lottie get here soon. Surely it can't take that long to steal boomslang skin from Slughorn's office. Lily's experimenting with potions again. Oh, Merlins' bloody disfigured monobrow, Black's standing up and walking in my direction. I'm hoping that he will _keep walking. Keep walking. Keep. Walking._

Drat, my mental signals apparently didn't work because he's sitting across from me. A foolish move on his end, I think.

"Evelyn," starts Black, looking slightly apprehensive.

I choose to ignore him.

"I know we've been a bit rocky these past few days, and I have come to the understanding that it could be because of a possibly bad decision on my behalf."

I glare at him.

"Right, okay. Definitely a bad decision by me. Anyway, I realise that I have done an incorrect thing in writing letters to your mother under false pretences and feeding her false information about our, um, _friendship_ as such. Also for not giving you any of the brownies she sent."

"What do you want, Black?"

"The point being, is that, I," he pauses as if he cant get the words out of his throat, "I, am sorry."

This time I choke on my pumpkin juice (if only Remus were here).

Black, with unnatural agility, jumps over the table and starts patting my back. "Alright there, Evelyn?"

"Stop bloody touching me, Black," I cough, removing the last of the juice from my lungs. "I would, however, like it if you backtracked a bit and said that thing again."

"Alright there?"

"Further."

"Something about brownies?"

I narrow my eyes at him.

"Right, of course, my bad. I, Sirius Black, officially apologise for the wrong I have done you these past weeks, and humbly beg for your forgiveness."

"I doubt you've done anything humbly in your life," Lily says, sitting down on my right.

"Alright there, Eva?" Asks Lottie. "This cretin isn't bugging you too much?"

"You wound me, Charlotte," says Black, clutching his heart. "I thought we were friends!"

"I see where Peter gets it from then," she replies.

"Scat, Black," Lily says, twirling her wand between her fingers. "Eva doesn't want you here."

"Evelyn?" Black raises an eyebrow. "You let these people put words into your mouth, just like that?"

"Shove off, dog. You're barking up the wrong tree."

"Clever."

"I hear Lily's been practising her bat-bogey hex," Lottie adds.

"Alright, I'm going," Black says, getting up from the table. "I meant it though, Eva, I am sorry. Won't happen again."

Thankfully he goes and sits with Potter, who waves at us. Lily waves back.

"Did I just hear him apologise to you?" Lottie asks, "and did he just call you Eva?"

"I'd prefer to not to think about it, if I'm perfectly honest. Can we talk about our afternoon plans?"

Lily thankfully continues my line of conversation. "Well I have to meet with Potter to talk about Head things, so knowing him that might take a while, and then I've got that bloody transfiguration essay."

"I was planning on having a nap," says Lottie, "and then ignoring the fact that we have that transfiguration essay."

"I guess I'll be working in the library then. I'm not sure if you two have heard, but I've got a transfiguration essay to do."

"Did someone mention that transfiguration essay?" asks Alice as she walks past, "McGonagall better give us all shots of pepper-up tomorrow because we'll all be staying up all night at this rate."

Bloody hell, she's right.

 **Sunday**

 **September 20, 1977**

 **Library**

I'm hoping this afternoon's stint in the library will go better than this morning's, I mean I don't really have any aims to possibly ruin any more relationships.

I'm also hoping that I can avoid any more confrontation for today, Merlin knows I've had enough of it.

 _ **Evelyn K. O. Bishop's List of Things She is Hoping For This Afternoon**_

1\. That I will have 0 amounts of unnecessary confrontation.

2\. That my transfiguration essay will not take up my entire life.

3\. Sirius Black will grow a pair of antlers of his own volition and think he's cool but in reality the entire world will be laughing about the stupid dumb antlers on his stupid dumb head.

Short list, I know, but I think that it's achievable, and that's the most important factor.

Anyhow, transfiguration!

 **Sunday**

 **September 20, 1977**

 **Library**

So it turns out that list only held up for about an hour. I was peacefully working on my essay like a good student when guess who turns up to bash me up? Isadora James, The Floozy Twunt-Head (it's a working title).

You know when you know someone is standing behind you, but you want to pretend they're not there so you do exactly that? Well that's what I did, despite her clearing her throat overly loudly every five seconds or so.

"Can I offer you a cup of some licorice tea, Isadora? You sound like you have a _terribly_ sore throat."

"What on earth are you talking about, Bishop? (her mind is obviously not yet matured enough to understand the depth of my wit) You've obviously been ignoring me for the past five minutes."

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh don't play dumb with me. I've got a bone to pick with you. It's only been three weeks and Hollard is acting so strange, and I know you've been talking to him, and telling him things, and turning him against me for your own selfish gains!"

"That... that is just so incredibly wrong I honestly don't know where to start."

"I know he talked to you about charms, and so I know something's up because I'm his girlfriend so obviously he would have talked to me about charms, and not you, but he didn't, so that means something is up, and you're going to tell me whether or not you have been cheating with my boyfriend."

Out of all the things that I have ever dreaded happening, this is not one of them, because I never considered it an option, but now I know I can add it to my list of things to dread in the future.

"Okay, I would just like to clarify that you're annoyed at me because you think I'm seeing Hol in a romantic way and twisting him against you?"

"So you admit it!"

"I've talked to Hol like ten times total in my life."

"So?"

"That's, that's just so ludicrous I don't even know how to rebut it!"

"I know he has a history of dating Gryffindors, remember he dated Evans before he dated me!"

"She dated him as a joke!"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

At this point in time her face was completely red and her whisper-shouting was starting to attract some attention.

"Okay I'm going to say this, and this is the truth. I'm not dating Hol. That's just, so weird. And I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but I think he's acting weird because he's plotting things with the Slytherins. Lily, Lottie and I saw him in the forest with Avery, Nott and Bulstrode the first week, and they were talking, and then he asked me about charms for breaking into places, and then Bulstrode broke into Flitwick's office. So if you want real answers, ask him, because I don't know a bloody thing!"

"What?" Isadora paused her nonsensical babbling ( _finally_ ).

"I'm not making this up. I have no interest in dating your boyfriend. In fact, I think you might want to consider having a similar frame of mind."

"Don't pretend you know anything about my relationship, Bishop. Sort out your own relationship issues before trying to pick holes in mine."

Excuse me? "What on earth's that supposed to mean?"

She raises an eyebrow. "Seriously? You and Sirius Black? Aislyn's told me she thinks you're the only girl he even cares about, and she would know, and you just pretend you don't know."

"That's just dumb. Black is the most emotionally unattached person I've ever met."

"Because he's waiting for you to be bothered to give him the time of day! Merlin, Bishop, how oblivious can you get? I don't even know why you're in Gryffindor if you're not even brave enough to confront any of your issues."

That is completely untrue, by the way.

"I don't know why you're not in Slytherin with your obvious need to cut down everyone around you so you can be at the top."

"I'm dedicated and hardworking, and loyal to my friends, so I'll stay where I am, thank you. You're a threat to the people I care about, and I won't stand for it, so I'm sorry if you think that I'm not _nice_ enough for Hufflepuff. Sort out your issues, Bishop."

And then she left. Just like that.

How am I supposed to react to someone just blatantly spitting out all those untruths about me like that.

Black and I are just friends. Not even.

I think.

Right?

...

Anyway, I'm just going to move on and continue with my transfiguration essay so that I can try and not think about anything except for how stressed I am right now because honestly, that's the least of my problems.

 **Sunday**

 **September 20, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dormitory**

So it's late but I just have to write down what happened because I'm still recovering from it.

I was so distracted by what Isadora said to me that I couldn't concentrate on my essay, no matter how hard I tried, so at dinner I apologised to Lily and Lottie and told them I would need to stay in the library for a bit and finish it, which I eventually did. The point is, when I tried to go to sleep afterwards, I couldn't because my brain was so worked up, so I went for a walk to the astronomy tower.

I knew for a fact that there were two fifthys on patrol tonight so I wouldn't get caught sneaking out of the dorm late. Also, being a prefect and friends with the Head Girl I could just say that she asked me to also be on patrol, so it's almost a free pass to do whatever I please. As I said earlier, people should not look to me as an example.

I love the astronomy tower because you can see half the world from there. It's so high up and when it's the middle of the night and dead quiet you feel like you're just in your own part of the world. That probably sounds stupid but I like it, so, whatever. I'm not a poet.

Not many people know this, but late at night the mermaids come to the surface of the black lake. They don't like humans much, which as a human, makes a lot of sense, but I like to watch them swim. I was watching them when I was interrupted by a noise behind me.

"Moony told me that you said this would be a good place for late night snogging."

"Don't get any ideas, Black."

He chuckled softly, "I wouldn't dare."

What is he even doing here? All I wanted was some peace and quiet. "So did you follow me up here?"

"You get straight to the point, don't you."

"You avoided answering my question."

"I didn't follow you," he said, moving to stand next to me at the window. I never really thought I was small, but standing next to Black really put things into perspective. "I saw your name on the map, and decided to come," he continued.

"Why? I'm still mad at you."

"That's exactly why. I mean you're normally annoyed at me for something, but you're never really ever _mad_ at me. I don't really care for it."

"It's not my fault you wrote a letter to my mother and told her we were _dating,_ let alone you and her talking about my love for Remus, I mean-"

"Your what?" Black interrupted, "you've got to be _joking,_ Evelyn."

"Don't act like you don't know, it was in the letter she sent."

"The letter?" Black laughs, looking somewhat incredulous, "I never read that bloody letter, I gave it to you, unopened."

It felt like my heart had dropped into my stomach. I fell back against the wall and slid to the floor, trying not to think about what had just happened. I couldn't believe that after all of that, he never read the letter. I mean of course, there were other letters, but he didn't read the Remus letter, and I just told him.

"Merlin, Bishop, you're in love with Remus. I guess it make sense, I guess it all makes sense now. I thought you were just oblivious but maybe you just didn't care."

I felt sick. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't," he hit the wall with his fist and then slid down next to me. "Of _course_ you don't."

"I know you're friends with him, but please don't tell him, because I know he likes Dorcas and I don't want him to feel bad about not liking me like that."

"You don't want me to tell him? Dammit, that's what you're thinking about right now? Bloody hell."

"What else am I supposed to be thinking about?"

Black stared at me disbelievingly. "Do you honestly have no idea?"

"No idea about what?"

Black sighed heavily and turned to face me. "If you don't know by now then it's probably best you never know. Especially with your feelings towards one of my best mates."

"I don't know why you're mad at _me,_ I've done nothing wrong except accidentally tell you one of my secrets. Besides, why should you care? Am I not good enough for him or something?"

"Merlin, no, you're perfect. Annoying as hell, though."

What is he playing at? I opt to say nothing.

"Just, are you sure about Remus?"

"Yes. Are you going to tell him? Because what you said before about me being mad at you I just wanted you to know that you telling him would increase that anger."

"Eva," he grabs my hand and I'm in such a state of confusion and horror that I barely notice, "this really is your last chance, because I need to either do something or move on."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Are you going to tell him or not?"

He drops my hand. "I won't say a word."

He stands up and grabs the map out of his pocket, muttering the code word (sentence?) of which I can no longer remember. "Filch is on the seventh floor so watch out for him. Bye, Evelyn."

"Bye?"

Then he leaves. I stay there for a few more minutes before leaving myself, only missing Filch on the seventh floor because I knew to look out for him. I guess despite Black's nonsense and tomfoolery he's not all bad. Just mostly. I think.

So that's it. I'm going to go to bed and attempt to sleep off this weird funk I'm feeling.

 _ **AN: Thank you so much for reading this chapter everyone! It's dedicated to my friend Izzie who just had her birthday and despite being the inspiration for Isadora James is thankfully less psycho.**_

 _ **Thanks again to my book wench Catriona who I can bounce my ideas off of and ask for help when I have no idea what I'm doing (like 80% of the time).**_

 _ **If you enjoyed please take the time to vote add any comments on ideas or things you liked/disliked! Thanks so much for reading!**_

 _ **OXO**_


	14. The Weekend of Doom

**Saturday**

 **September 26, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dormitory**

So there are two things of importance to write down.

The first: who is this impostor and what has he done with Sirius Black?

After the... events... of last Sunday, actually, let me just interrupt the point of this sentence - what on earth happened last Sunday? I have read and reread my last diary entry numerous times and yet I still fail to understand so many things.

 _ **A Completed List of the Things Evelyn K. O. Bishop Does Not Understand After the Events of Last Sunday**_

 **1.** Everything

 **2.** What on earth was Black talking about toward the end of that meeting? I mean I, obviously, was in such a shock that the whole thing was even occurring, and that Black, my nemesis(?), now suddenly knew one of my deepest secrets, that I was finding it difficult to concentrate on the bigger picture, whatever it was supposed to be.

 **3.** Why I haven't exactly told Lily or Lottie the details of what happened. I mean, sure, I told them that we argued and that he didn't know about the note beforehand, but that's it.

 **4.** He called me oblivious? I'm not oblivious... Am I? No. That's just dumb.

 **5.** Why he just seems... so... I don't know. I just... you know what, never mind.

 **6.** Possibly the most important thing, well, actually no, it's not really important _whatsoever,_ but why Black has been decidedly distant since Sunday. And why I sort of seem to care.

Which brings me back to the original point. He's only talked to me when necessary, such as in Potions when we have to talk, and even then it's only 'pass the powdered bicorn horn' or 'slice the gillyweed'. He's calling me Bishop, actually. Normally it's Evelyn. Maybe I should call him something different.

Sirius?

Nevermind, that's disgusting.

The point is, I don't really like this new and supposedly improved Black. It's weird because this is what I've wanted for so long, for him to not talk to me. This is all I've ever hoped for to happen and I cannot for the life of me work out what is going on in my head right now.

Bloody Black, making me annoyed even when he's not doing anything.

The only real thing of note with this (aside from my muddled brain) is that there has been a significant increase of 'incidents' since what I've dubbed 'the conversation'. First it was the Slytherins having to evacuate their common room due to what seemed like a mass plague of horned toads, and then it was some of the third years complaining that all of their underwear had gone mysteriously missing, only to miraculously reappear two days later tied in a line on the top of the astronomy tower. Just little things like this. Obviously I knew it was Black. I guess I had thought that he had moved past this childishness and had at least a small level of maturity, but I guess he proved me wrong. His loss. Anyway.

The second point I would like to bring to attention is that as it is Saturday, it is therefore Hogsmeade Weekend. I'm currently in my room, having had a silent breakfast (Black was absent and I wasn't really in the mood to talk to DTB) and mentally preparing myself. I can't just _not go_ to Hogsmeade because where else am I supposed to get Fizzing Whizzbees? It's not like mum can just pop into the grocer in London and ask for them, so I have to make the most of these opportunities.

I'm not sure where Remus is planning on taking DTB, so I'll have to tread carefully. I'm heading in with Lottie and Marley - Lottie has informed me that Lily said she 'can't come because she's too busy doing Head Girl things' but she looks far too happy today, so I think something is going on that neither of them is telling me.

Why does nobody tell me anything?

More importantly, why does Blac-

 **Saturday**

 **September 26, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dormitory**

Sorry. Spilled my ink. Anyway, it took far too long to clean everything up (the one thing I cannot do is cleaning spells) and so I need to get ready for Hogsmeade.

Lottie is peering over my shoulder as I write this- no I will not hurry up- no, I will continue to communicate with you through writing- well if you have an issue with it then stop talking to me- no I am not 'in a mood!'- THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SIRIUS BLACK!- Stop talking to me I need to write.

Right. Anyway.

Lottie has moved onto picking some clothes for me because apparently I can't do anything for myself. She has also decided that apparently my clothes aren't good enough and I'll need to wear her mustard skivvy and denim flares if I'm ever to be as cool as her.

Alright, diary. Wish me luck to get through this day.

 **Saturday**

 **September 26, 1977**

 **The Three Broomsticks**

Hogsmeade is probably my favourite place in the world if you don't count Diagon Alley or the Tower of London.

When I was younger, before I knew I was a witch, my mother used to read me Enid Blyton before I went to bed - _The Magic Wishing Chair_ and _The Magic Faraway Tree-_ all those sorts of stories. On my first trip to Diagon Alley I was sure that I had stepped into one of the lands at the top of the Faraway Tree or been flown to another world on the Wishing Chair.

Hogsmeade is the same, except it doesn't have that same hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley, and it has all these lovely pockets of fresh air and peacefulness.

My favourite stores are Honeydukes and Scrivenshaft's, but I love the Three Broomsticks the best. Ever since we got our letters signed in third year, Lily, Lottie and I would come here every chance we could and sit at the corner table in the front left near the window and talk about everything.

This is only the second time that one of us hasn't been here. Marley's a decent substitute, but it's not the same as Lily, I guess.

Anyway, it's rude of me to ignore the conversation.

"Surely it's not that difficult," Lottie pats Marley's arm reassuringly.

Marley rolls her eyes. "You don't understand, you don't experience it. Don't you remember that one time I literally kissed Eva because I was drunk and thought she was gay?" She turns to me suddenly, "Sorry about that, by the way. We never really cleared that up. That was completely my bad."

"S'alright," I reply. Which it is.

"My point being," she continues, "is that this school is so completely starved of people that I can date that I'm hearing and seeing things that are completely not what they are. Obviously Eva was just annoyed at Sirius-"

"I object to that."

"-and being her normal dramatic self, talking about hating boys and all, and I completely read the wrong thing into it."

"Is there honestly no one?" asks Lottie.

Marley raises an eyebrow. "Well I only knew of and dated Cassiopeia Black, and we all know how that turned out."

"It's not your fault her family are a bunch of psychopaths. You had no control over what happened. Besides, I heard after they transferred her to Beauxbatons that she just packed up and left. She got away. Even Sirius hasn't heard from her."

"Well it's not like they were close, being third-cousins and her a year younger, and not hearing from her isn't necessarily a good thing. They might have put an end to the blight on the family name, for all we know." Marley looks upset at this prospect.

"They wouldn't have-" Lottie pauses for a second and lowers her voice, "they wouldn't have killed her, would they? I know the Blacks don't have the most stellar reputation but they're not that psychopathic."

"I wouldn't put it past them," I mumble.

Marley shoots me a strange look before resuming her train of thought. "You guys remember Bellatrix Black, right? We were too young to have gone to school with her, but you remember her sister Narcissa? She was in fifth year when we got to Hogwarts. Bellatrix was, well, still is, this crazy pureblood fanatic, apparently she would use the _crucio_ curse on the first years, but they never had any proof. I know Sirius is a good bloke, but his family? Who knows what they would do to put an end to something they didn't approve of."

"Let's not talk about it now," says Lottie. "I don't want to think about that sort of thing today. We're supposed to be having fun! But I guess it all makes sense as to why Sirius left home."

What?

When did this happen?

I mean I obviously knew that he didn't get along with his family very well, I've seen him fight with his brother Regulus, but I didn't realise it was that bad. I didn't realise. I didn't know.

"Black left home?"

"Are you serious, Eva?" Marley looked surprised. "You didn't know?"

"We don't really talk about personal issues and I generally lose interest if anyone brings him up in conversation."

"Sirius lives with James now," says Lottie quietly. "He moved at the end of fifth year. His family disowned him. No one really talks about it."

"I mean sure, no one talks about it, but it's not as if it's a secret!" says Marley, still confused. "I knew you lived under a rock but I didn't think it was that big!"

"I am going to choose to ignore that comment, thank you, Marlene."

"Actually, um, Eva, could you please get us a new round of butterbeers?" Lottie says loudly and suddenly. "Could you maybe do it right now?" She stands up and starts to push me out of my chair.

"I don't want another-" Marley pauses, looking shiftily out the window. "OH. Right. Yes, Eva, butterbeer."

I look out of the window and see Remus walking with Dorcas. He's got his arm around her shoulders and they're both laughing. I watch them turn into Zonko's Joke Shop for what feels like hours. My face drops.

"Marley, you were supposed to help me distract her," hisses Lottie.

"I'm sorry! I didn't realise what was going on! You didn't use the signal!"

"Yes I did! I tugged at my ear _five_ times!"

"It's alright guys, stop arguing."

They stop arguing and gaze at me apprehensively.

"I know that they're here, I know they're on a date or whatever, I know. You don't need to baby me. I'm almost 18, I'm past all of this."

"Well, that's the thing," says Lottie gingerly, "you kind of have, well, fragile emotions and a tendency to over-dramatise a situation."

"Yeah," Marley chimes in. "Plus we all know how you feel about him. We just wanted to look out for you."

"Everyone knows except him, apparently."

There is silence for a moment.

"Well I don't think there's any use in dwelling on it," says Lottie. "Lets just go to Honeydukes and get a sugary pick-me-up, alright?"

"Alright," grins Marlene.

They each grab one of my arms and we stroll out of the Three Broomsticks and thankfully towards the sweets shop. Unfortunately, as soon as we exit, Remus and DTB decide to leave Zonkos, and in my haste to avoid any form of confrontation with them I drag Marley and Lottie down the nearest alleyway.

I'm so distracted by the picture of the two of them together that it takes a second to register that the alleyway is already occupied.

It takes another second for Sirius Black to realise he has an audience and un-suction himself from Aislin Murphy.

He stares at me for a couple of seconds, blank faced, and then with a pointed look, resumes his activities with Aislin.

"You're disgusting, Black!" Marley calls as we leave the alleyway for the apparent safety of Honeydukes.

"Thank you!" He yells in response.

"Boys," Marley sighs and then checks that the coast is clear of a certain pair.

When we finally walk into the store I almost forget all of my struggles. There is any sweet you could ever dream of lining the walls and filling the shelves. A true paradise. Obviously I grab twenty packets of fizzing whizbees, prompting a look of horror from Lottie's direction.

The thing is, my dad is an accountant, so he makes enough to send me a galleon a week (well it comes originally as muggle money but I change it to wizard currency), and I change them into sickles so I can put half in Gringotts and the other half goes toward fizzing whizbees. One might think, 'why would she spend so much money on fizzing whizbees?' The answer is, is that they are sherbet-y goodness that make you hover. That's right, not only are they sherbet, but after eating them, you can float about three inches off of the ground. It makes it much faster getting to classes when you can float over the water as you run past the first floor girls' lavatory.

I also bought some choc-mint fudge and some sugar quills. You gotta have some variation.

Anyway, this long winded spiel was supposed to distract me from the facts of the day. The facts being, of course, that Remus and Dorcas were on a date, and Remus and I were not.

You'd have thought that I would have come to this realisation before, but I'm pretty sure I was in a state of denial. Lily has said, on occasion, that I am never out of this state, but that is beside the point.

The point, is that I need to come to terms with the fact that Remus, despite telling me he had feelings back when I was dating _lamos_ Diggory, no longer has them, and it is not healthy for me to try and convince myself otherwise.

Therefore, I have decided that there is absolutely nothing I can do about this situation and that I should continue to wallow in pain for a while until their inevitable break up. She's just not the right person for him.

After going to Honeydukes we popped into Zonkos where Marley bought some hiccough sweets, and then Scrivenshaft's because we were all running out of parchment.

We have since reconvened to the warmth and comfort of the Three Broomsticks and I am drinking my third butterbeer of the day. Butterbeer has barely any alcohol in it so it's alright if a drink a few dozen. Well actually my bladder isn't that good. And butterbeer isn't very healthy.

Anyway. Lottie and Marley wanted to have a rest before we need to head back so that's why we're back here, not that I'm complaining.

Actually, I rescind that statement; Remus and DTB have just walked inside.

 **Saturday**

 **September 26, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dormitory**

I obviously couldn't stay in the Three Broomsticks after the arrival of Remus and DTB, which meant that I couldn't actually finish writing. Anyway, the rest of the day goes as such:

Remus spots us and starts to make his way over, smiling, but DTB tugs on his arm and points at a table across the room. He shoots her a confused look and walks over here anyway. DTB mouths 'sorry' to me as they sit down.

I have absolutely no idea what she means.

"Have you girls had a nice day?" Asks Remus, ever the polite one. "We've had a lovely day so far. It's a bit cold though; Dorc was just saying she should have brought a jacket. Oh, and-"

"I actually need to see something outside that I just remembered," I say, interrupting whatever Remus was going to say next.

Marley shoots me a concerned look.

"Alright? See you, Eva..." Remus' voice trails off as I close the door behind me. He was right about one thing though; it is getting colder. He smiles at me as I pass by the window and I manage a small cringe in return.

If that didn't make him swoon, I don't know what will.

I decide to walk away from the main Hogsmeade area and walk down to the Shrieking Shack. This turns out to be a terrible decision as no sooner do I find a nice silent rock to think thoughts I am accosted by a herd of Slytherins.

There's five of them today: the normal seventh years, Snape, Avery and Nott, and two sixth years, Patrick Mulciber and Regulus Black.

"None of the usual posse today, eh, Bishop?" Sneers Avery. I don't think he realises it but when he screws his face up like that he looks like a frog.

"Depends on what you mean," I reply, standing up onto my rock.

"You don't have your boyfriend's protection today, and I might remind you that there's five of us that are rather _keen_ on having a talk with you." Avery twirls his wand in what I think is supposed to be a menacing way. He looks rather like one of those baton twirlers. Maybe he should invest in a leotard.

In this situation, it's probably best to get the point right out there in the open. No use in prolonging the conversation. "Alright then, go ahead. Mind you, I don't have all day."

"We'd love to have a chat to you about our mate Bulstrode," steps in Snape, the wind catching his greasy hair.

"We'd also like to talk about the fact that if weren't for you, he'd not be expelled," adds Nott. "You see, it was your information that got him caught, and we're not really very happy about it."

"Mudbloods, mudbloods," says Avery. "One day they'll learn their place, and, well, I guess today is your day."

Without warning, Avery's head swells to twice its normal size.

Everyone reacts as one would expect them to, falling all over the place looking like a bunch of idiots.

Regulus Black is the only one who seems unaffected, narrowing his eyes and hissing what sounds to be "cereal" under his breath.

Snape, ever the quick reactor, turns around and draws his wand on me. Unfortunately for him, I am not affected by the sight of my friend's head bobbing about like a balloon, and so give him a nice pair of antlers and cast _steleus_ for good measure.

The Slytherins, for all their mouth, aren't actually as tough as they'd like to pretend they are, and so I'm able to run in the other direction, rendering them incapable of recovering before they can do anything about it.

I'm sorry, that was a lie, I just wanted to seem cooler than I am. The reason behind Avery's head issues seems to be good at hexes and keeps most of them occupied (Snape can't even cast a spell for all of his sneezing) (nice one, Eva) aside from Regulus, who unfortunately for me, grins and hits me with a couple of stinging hexes and narrowly misses with something that sounded like _sectumsempra._

I hightail it out of there (I'm not stupid) and make my way into a busy area, docking five points from Gryffindor for a kid laughing at the swelling on my face.

I decide against letting the others know what exactly happened, and so when I run into Marley and Lottie I tell them that I was stung by a bee and must have had an allergic reaction. That's also what I tell Pomfrey, who raises an eyebrow and gives me a lotion to reduce swelling caused by jinxes. She doesn't say anything.

So that's it.

Actually, no.

After I got back from the hospital wing, someone had managed to sneak food from the kitchens and laid it out on my bed. Everyone else was asleep, aside from Lily, who I caught sneaking into the dorm after 2am, giggling.

And that's it.

 _ **AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know I did, and Eva didn't. Oh well. Sucks to be her.**_

 _ **Thanks again to my book wench Catriona for editing this to make sure I don't let down my family with my bad grammar.**_

 _ **Please vote and comment, I'd love to hear your opinions and ideas!**_

 _ **OXO**_

 _ **AN 2.0: For those of you wanting to, well, hit darling Evelyn after the previous chapter, here's a little something written by the amazing**_ _ **succulentss**_ _ **to appease your minds.**_

"Dear diary, the most unusual thing happened today. I was in the library minding my own business when a seventh year Gryffindor named Lexi approached me. Lexi is well known amongst her peers for her temper, curious I haven't mentioned her sooner (almost as if she was only added to the narrative of my life as an afterthought. Strange.) But anyway she approached me silently, like a lioness stalking its prey, which I suppose she was actually, and she straight up smacked me. No warning nor explanation, just a hard smack upside the head and an anguished groan as if she were frustrated (by what I'm not entirely sure dear diary as I am oblivious to everything). Understandably I am in shock. I expect I will be seeing more of her in the future should I continue down this path of oblivious naivety."


	15. The Day of Gryffindor

**Friday**

 **October 2, 1977**

 **Astronomy Tower**

It is 11pm and seeing as it is the day before my eighteenth birthday I have taken this opportunity to come and ponder about my life.

First of all, this week has been unnecessarily busy, and I must admit the only reason I was able to successfully get through it is because of my now not-so-large stash of fizzing whizbees.

We're a month into school and it seems that every single professor is using the NEWTs as an excuse to bombard us with twelve foot long essays and tests every second lesson. I'm even finding Charms stressful, and I can't ever in my life remember ever finding charms stressful. Ideally I would spend all of tomorrow doing work, but Lily has informed me that that would be "literally the most impossible and improbable thing that could ever happen ever".

I know that Lily wants to study for Transfiguration as she told me yesterday that she absolutely cannot get the hang of the human transfiguration spells we've been learning, but it seems as if Lottie's convinced Lily that having us both stressed out will be for the best. Lottie doesn't really care about what we're doing, she's not scared of the professors being disappointed in her, unlike the rest of us rational human beings. Sometimes it feels like the only thing she cares about is animals. And eggs.

Besides, they've been so busy this week I've hardly seen any of them, and this includes Alice, Marley, Remus and the Bloody Prat Trio. It's like whenever I see any of them they're huddled and whispering and it feels like they've been plotting something but I have absolutely no idea what is going on. At least I've been able to do my work without being distracted.

Anyway, it's strange to think that I'm almost eighteen. When I was younger I thought I would grow up to be a dentist, oddly enough. Now I think my aim is to teach charms somewhere, at Hogwarts hopefully (if Flitwick would ever give it up for me). I'm pretty sure there's other wizarding schools around, well, actually there would have to be, so I could teach there if Hogwarts doesn't work out. If not I could always become a healer; I'm not half bad at herbology or potions and I can always specialise in charm work. I've always liked Pomfrey, after all.

I tend to avoid thinking about my future as I guess I always thought I would stay a child forever. I don't really know if that makes sense, but I was never keen to 'grow up.' My mum would read Peter Pan to me when I was about eight - we would go for camping trips to the Forest of Dean and go stay by the seashore, and she would read to me in the car as we drove.

I actually miss cars; it's a little trickier to read on your broom.

My point though, is that I thought I would never grow to be an adult, and here I am, about to be an adult or whatever. Gross. Maybe I should invest my time into inventing a potion that will stop me ageing? I wonder if Dumbledore can give me Nicholas Flamel's address.

I'd have expected that growing up comes with actually having some idea of what one is doing, and from my past experiences, I think it's very clear that I do not have any idea about what I am doing.

 _ **An Incomplete List of Things that One Evelyn K. O. Bishop has No Idea of what She is Doing**_

 **1.** Remus Lupin. Not, of course that I'm _doing_ Remus Lupin. Well that's not to say that I'd be opposed to it, but that's beside the point. Anyway. I obviously do not have that sorted out.

 **2.** Lily Evans. There is something obviously going on with her in her life and I have no idea about it. Whenever I ask Lottie what is going on she just raises an eyebrow and tells me to go ask Lily, but that would mean actually _asking_ Lily, and that is something I cannot do. Therefore, it would seem I am not able to do basic things such as asking questions.

 **3.** Mark Abery. I am supposed to be a helpful, leadery (is that a word?), knowledgeable Charms tutor and yet it has been a month and we have only met twice, both times seemingly ineffective. Does this mean that I am not as proficient in charms as I thought I was? Does this mean there is no hope for me as a future Charms Professor? Obviously something is missing here.

 **4.** Slytherin Goonies 1-5. It would seem I am not observant enough to notice when people are asking for my help to participate in illegal activities, and I have managed to make myself a target of at least five Slytherins' attacks by literally doing nothing. Apparently the help that I supposedly gave them was not good enough and when their stupid plan (it was rather stupid, wasn't it) fell through and got one of them expelled it was _my_ fault. I still have no idea what is going on here. It's _not_ my fault that _you're_ incompetent!

 **5.** As much as I hate to admit it, Sirius Black. He just gets under my skin and the way he looks at me, like he knows something that I don't. It's very frustrating.

Therefore, dearest darling diary, it is apparent that I am completely and utterly not ready for adulthood, and yet here I am, about to enter it.

Wish me luck!

 **Saturday**

 **October 3, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

I was woken up at the CRACK OF BLOODY DAWN by my dearest friends Charlotte and Lily who believe, for some reason that is beyond my understanding, that because I was born at 5:45 am in the morning that I should be WOKEN UP AND SUNG TO at 5:45 am in the morning.

Alice was jumping up and down trying to keep warm and Marley was yawning and trying not to fall back asleep.

Some time during the time I got back from the Astronomy Tower and being woken up, the girls had managed to hang red, blue and gold streamers across the beds and there were balloons drifting across the ceiling. At least they seem to appreciate me.

"We've all decided to do presents tonight at your party instead of this morning so that we can embarrass you in front of possibly the whole of Gryffindor," was the first thing Lily said after a discordant performance of 'Happy Birthday.'

" _Please_ don't tell me there's going to be fifthys there, Lils" was my obvious reply.

"Of course not, she's just being Lily and she's going to _stop_ being Lily now, isn't she," warned Lottie with a glare in Lily's direction. "It's just going to be sixth and seventh years."

"Please then consider me forever and always Harriette Bernadette Emmanuelle the Fourth," replied Lily with a bow. She waved her wand and transfigured a bobby pin into a name badge with her new title on it and then pinned it to her jumper.

"Alright then, Harriette," said Lottie who was doing a bad attempt of concealing a smile, "we've got a whole day of fun and adventure planned with just the five of us and possibly more other people maybe as well."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I guess you'll find out!"

And so now we're eating breakfast in the Great Hall. McGonagall came up and told me happy birthday so that was nice of her. I think she's sufficiently recovered from the incidents that led to my fateful two weeks of detention. Not even a hint of the word fornication anywhere. There's no trace of the marauders, or Dorcas, now that I think about it. Of course, it is only 6am, and no one eats breakfast at this hour except for us, McGonagall and Elena Prinz, apparently. Why on earth is Elena Prinz up this early? I think she's German so maybe it's a German thing. Just another thing to add to the list of things I don't understand.

Elena walks over and says happy birthday, and then turns to Lottie, saying, "I like your shoelaces."

Lottie nods her head solemnly. "Thanks, I stole them from the Minister for Magic."

As if on cue, Lily (Harriette?), Marley and Alice stand up and mutter some strange excuse about needing to find Pince and ask her help to borrow a book in the library, and Elena follows them, whispering conspiratorially. Who doesn't know how to borrow a book from a library?

"All done with your pancakes, Eva?"

I swallow my last mouthful and Lottie slowly pushes the plate away from me. Rude? "So what's this about fun and adventure?"

"I'm glad you asked," grins Lottie, who then whips out a long piece of parchment and a peacock feather quill from seemingly nowhere. "We have devised a long series of activities that you will need to complete in order to become eligible for receiving the Grand Prize, and so if you could just sign along this dotted line we can start moving."

I stare at Lottie.

I stare at the parchment.

"What?"

"Just sign the parchment, Eva. The only thing it says is that if you are injured in any way, shape, or form during the events of today that you will not hold us responsible, and it also provides you with five minutes of diary writing time after each activity. If you don't sign it, it means you still have to participate but we won't let you write in your diary."

Right.

I guess I should probably sign it seeing as my friends have probably put some effort into this birthday adventure Grand Prize thing. You'd think that if they were my true friends they'd understand that I would prefer to be doing my charms right now. Oh well.

I am slightly excited though. Maybe it's the Gryffindor in me.

I sign the document and Lottie immediately tells me that by the way it's magically charmed and I now have to participate in the events or my nose will turn purple for a month. Great.

Oh, and now we're apparently off to the Forbidden Forest. Even better.

 **Saturday**

 **October 3, 1977**

 **The Greenhouses**

So when Lottie informed me that I would have five minutes of diary writing time after each event she literally meant I could only have five minutes. I'm at least glad that my friends pay enough attention to know that I write in a diary.

"How could we not, you're literally always writing in it," says Lottie.

It would seem they have no respect for my privacy though.

Okay so I'll try and write this as fast as possible because in the scheme of things five minutes is not a great amount of time.

Alright.

So Lottie walked with me down past Hagrid's hut and around his cabbage patch into the forbidden forest, where we were greeted by Elena Prinz who was holding a rack of dead ferrets. (As a side note we are studying human transfiguration at the moment so I can only presume that they were actual ferrets.)

They nodded gravely at each other, and with the general all-round gloominess of the forest, I was starting to wonder what on earth I was getting into.

My confusion was still not cleared up, and actually worsened when Elena threw a dead ferret into an empty clearing and half, and then all of it suddenly vanished.

"So, Eva, your first task will be explained to you shortly by Elena here," Lottie nodded in Elena's direction, "and then when we meet again I will explain the next stage of your adventure! Remember to relax, okay? They don't like it when you're too tense."

What?

She waved goodbye and ran off down the path we came from and disappeared.

"Right, Eva, um, so I'm going to assume you can't see anything in this clearing?" Asked Elena, throwing another dead ferret into midair where it disappeared again.

"You assume correctly."

"Alright, well there's a sort of invisible creature here, one that's eating these ferrets I'm throwing to it."

"They are ferrets though, aren't they?"

"Yes?" Elena seemed unsure. I'm hoping it's due to the nature of the question and not the answer itself. "So, um, anyway. You'll be riding a thestral to the greenhouses where you'll meet Lottie."

"I'm going to what? What is a thestral?"

"Uh I don't really have time to explain any more. I don't really know why I'm doing this. I can see them, so I'll help you get on, but once you're on you need to get to the Greenhouses."

"How am I supposed to ride something I can't see?"

"Well he's kinda like a horse, except like a skeleton horse, and if you ask him nicely where to go he'll take you right there."

It's like she's purposely trying to make me _more_ confused.

Elena holds out her hand (as a side note she has really nice hands) and attempts to lead me to where this skeleton horse thingy is.

To my surprise (I don't actually know what I thought was going to happen but I assumed she was joking about the skeleton horse) there is an ACTUAL SKELETON HORSE THAT I CAN FEEL WITH MY HANDS.

With great difficulty I manage to perch myself upon the thestral (I mean, I do play Quidditch for Gryffindor, so) and Elena gives me one last piece of advice.

"If you ask him nicely he'll take you to the greenhouse. Lottie said you're not allowed to fly though, so ask him to just run there."

Right.

Don't ask the invisible skeleton horse to fly me across the school. Gotcha, Elena.

"Thanks for the help, I guess."

"Good luck," Elena waves goodbye.

After that I try and mind signal to the thestral as nicely as I can to _pretty please because it's my birthday please go nicely to the greenhouse to see Lottie to get a lovely nice dead ferret._

For some reason, the thestral seems to know what I'm asking and without so much a warning 'neigh' he leaps up and gallops out of the forest.

I don't know if you've ever had to ride an invisible flying skeleton horse across a large area, but I can confirm that it is more difficult than it sounds. Also, by this time there are actual people roaming the grounds who _will_ laugh or fall over in shock when they see you seemingly flying past them with a look of horror on your face.

Aside from these minor difficulties, I manage to get to the greenhouse, where the thestral abruptly stops and I fall off onto an inconveniently placed stone.

"Nicely done, Birthday Girl," smiles Lottie and then pets the thestral. "You can go back now," she says to it (him?). "Thank you for your service."

I assume the thestral leaves.

And so now we are all up to date.

"Finished writing yet, Eva?" Asks Lottie.

"You can't rush me it's my birthday."

"It's been twenty minutes, just so you know, and the others won't be nearly as lenient.

Pish posh.

"Alright, Eva. Here's your clue. I'll walk with you whilst you attempt to find wherever you're supposed to go."

Lottie hands me a folded up piece of parchment with the following words on it:

 _Evelyn Bishop._

 _Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, come._

 _Bring your other eyes._

Lottie grins smugly at me as I try to work the haiku out. It's like she thinks I'm unintelligent or something.

Well firstly, we can assume that the first line is referring to me. The second line, we can assume has something to do with those three days. Something I go to on those days? Could be Muggle Studies or Divination. Thirdly - my other eyes? What am I supposed to see with my other eyes? Another world? Oh, right. The _other world._ The second sight. Divination.

Okay. Off to the Divination classroom.

 **Saturday,**

 **October 3, 1977**

 **Divination Classroom**

So Lottie complained to Peter that it took me 20 minutes last time so I'm afraid I'm going to have to do quick summaries from now on.

I was obviously correct about the Divination classroom as Peter was waiting there for us.

"Took your time, Eva," grinned Peter, leaning against the doorway.

"She actually was quite quick about it, she just took _twenty bloody minutes_ to write in her diary," Lottie glared at me.

Peter shook his head disapprovingly at me. "You've gotta lift your game, Eva. Five minutes next time."

So.

After the two of them bullied me about wanting to write things down, which I think is a worthwhile experience, Peter described my next task and Lottie waved goodbye and went off to who knows where.

I don't know who came up with it, but some _idiot_ thought that apparently it would be a good idea for me to break into Selwyn's office and steal her favourite crystal ball, which I then had to charm to ten times the size and leave it in the middle of the classroom for her to find. Easy peasy.

After approximately five to ten minutes of deliberation with Peter attempting to encourage me, I successfully _alohomora_ 'd my way into her office where I could hear her snores from the next room over, and levitated the crystal ball out of the door, nearly tripping over her collection of vintage spoons in the process.

However, in my haste to effectively increase the size of the crystal ball, I used _engorgio_ a little too forcefully, and than had to hurriedly use _reducto_ when it became apparent the ball was going to reach the ceiling and probably explode and then rain down fragments of glass.

Once my task was successfully completed, Peter handed me the next clue.

 _Go to the place of hibernation,_

 _It will take a bit of acclimation,_

 _As there is a need for infiltration,_

 _To get to the relevant information,_

 _(There they encourage segregation)_

 _Please don't worry; no hesitation!_

I am amazed at the dedication to rhyme - who wrote this? Due to Peter's involvement with this day of 'excitement' I can assume that there will also be involvement from the other marauders, and so I can bet you two galleons it was James Potter. Black doesn't have the imagination. He also probably doesn't know how to rhyme.

So I need to go to a place where something hibernates and also encourages segregation. I will need to infiltrate it to get information? And I won't want to go there? Where is somewhere I wouldn't want to go? The fifth year dormitory?

Oh.

Hibernation. Snakes.

 _Dammit._

Okay so I think that I have to try and sneak into the Slytherin common room? Can I just say that I would have not even considered this aside from the fact that I already know where the Slytherin common room is, and I know that Sirius Black knows I know where the Slytherin common room is, but that is neither here nor there and there is also no time to recap that story anyway (please refer to Diary #4, p. 211 in order to reread story).

This is possibly the worst day of my life.

"How're you going, Eva?" Asks Peter, leaning over my shoulder. "Oh! Good job, you've worked it out! I told them you'd-." He pauses, face slightly aghast. "Damn, dammit, _dammit_ , Merlin I was _not_ supposed to confirm your answer." He looks up at the ceiling and whispers, "sorry Padfoot," whilst clasping his hands to his chest. "Alright then, the cat's, or should I say rat's," he giggles to himself, "out of the bag. Let's get going."

 **Saturday**

 **October 3, 1977**

 **The Dungeons**

So even though my hypothesis about the next challenge being within the confines of the Slytherin common room being confirmed by Peter, one never can be truly certain about these things, especially as one does not normally just waltz into the Slytherin common room.

The thing is, I'm not really a big fan of the Slytherin common room, or a fair few of the Slytherins themselves. Although I will say that I'm grateful that they had the common decency to choose the Slytherin common room instead of the Hufflepuff one, because honestly that would have just been bloody inhumane.

Getting in was relatively easy. Peter said goodbye about midway through our walk, and so the first thing I did was cast a disillusionment charm on myself before heading into the dungeons. Thankfully it is Saturday which means that people are going in and out of the dormitory with reasonable regularity, so I only had to wait five minutes before the door opened and I was able to sneak in.

'Wow, Eva! You're so incredibly skilled and talented!'

Yes, thank you.

The issue was when I got into the common room. The Slytherin common room looks as if it hasn't been redecorated since Salazar himself held up paint swatches against the walls; green is literally everywhere. There were various Slytherins perched on chairs around the room, and so I moved myself into an inconspicuous corner to work out what in Merlin I was supposed to be doing. I'm pretty sure the (terribly written) poem mentioned infiltration and then information. Therefore, now that I have infiltrated, what do I do? What information? Whose information?

I'm also pretty sure I spent close to fifteen minutes just standing there in the corner of the common room doing absolutely nothing. The only vague thing of interest was overhearing Nott say something to Avery about Snape brewing something in time for a ceremony, but I'm sure that's not really relevant.

Anyway, after standing there doing nothing, waiting for _something_ to happen in the corner of the common room, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Knowing that I was supposed to find information, I came to the conclusion that possibly someone else, one of my friends perhaps, was also disillusioned in the common room (this was, however, after I spent 20 minutes trying to inconspicuously read any piece of paper I came across and a thorough scan of the bookshelf).

The logical thing to do, I decided, was to walk around the common room poking the air until I managed to find whomever, or _what_ ever, I was looking for.

Imagine my surprise when, after poking behind one of the seventeen stone columns decorated with the emblem of a snake, I was surprised by the feeling of clothing, and, because of our mutual surprise, the sensation of falling over and onto an invisible person. Much to their credit, the person managed to refrain from yelling out, but the sound of us falling onto the floor caused at least one person to look over in our direction with a confused gaze. We both had the same idea and grabbed each other's arm before skedaddling out of the common room (this is especially difficult when you cannot see each other, and so keep tripping over each other's feet) as various Slytherin personnel took it upon themselves to investigate the noise.

Upon exiting the common room, the other person dragged me down a few different corridors into an empty potions classroom, and then removed their cloaking charm.

"Nicely done," grinned Alice.

"Alice?"

"You betcha. They boys wanted someone who knew how to get into the common room to go, and out of the three of us I volunteered. Sirius has something special planned, so I didn't want to steal his thunder. Plus I figured that this was terrible enough of an idea to get around."

"Black's got what planned?"

"Never you mind, Eva. You'll find out in good time. Congrats on passing the Charms Test, by the way."

"Charms Test?"

"Yeah?" Alice seemed confused. "Haven't the others explained it to you?"

"Explained what?"

Alice sighed. "Each 'activity' or whatever they're calling it is a different test. James has officially named it 'The Day of Gryffindor.'"

"Was this whole thing Potter's idea then?"

"Actually it was Lily's. We were bouncing ideas around when Lily suggested an Amazing Race. Sirius, Lottie and I tried to shut down that idea, but James, after having Lily explain what it was, got annoyed at her when she said it was better than a lot of wizard games, so you can imagine how that went down. James wouldn't take no for an answer, and decided that he was going to invent the best wizarding Amazing Race that would trump all previous muggle versions. He's rather competitive that way."

"Typical." Of course it was bloody Potter.

"Also, can I just say, it's just lots of fun watching you struggle, and I really wish that I had been able to see what on earth you were doing in the Slytherin common that took so bloody long to find me. What were you doing, poking the air?"

"No," I answered quickly, and then added, "well you were invisible, so."

Alice shook her head disapprovingly. "Excuses, excuses. You should be better than this. Anyway. You need to get moving, you literally took an hour to find me. Here's your next clue."

 _I'm the best, obviously._

 _You'll find me at the lake._

 _This clue is terribly amazing; it's not really even a clue at all._

 _JUST FIND ME, OKAY!_

 **Saturday**

 **October 3, 1977**

 **The Black Lake, obviously**

Surprisingly enough, I found James Potter at the Black Lake.

His challenge was simple enough. First, row into the lake. Second, provoke the giant squid. Third, row out of the lake. Fourth, avoid being killed by the giant squid.

 _Of course_ it was Potter who came up with this bloody challenge, because no SANE PERSON in their right mind would have even considered this as a good idea, let a lone a _fun_ idea.

Unsurprisingly, it took me a while to psych myself up enough to do the damn thing. Potter would yell helpful things like 'ARE YOU EVEN A GRYFFINDOR?' and 'WHO RAISED YOU TO BE SUCH AN ANIMAL LOVER' (the latter of which I feel would have offended Lottie, but didn't really have any affect on me).

Potter also told me that sadly he had been banned by Lily from helping me provoke the squid, so he stood and stared at me mournfully from the shore as I paddled to my death.

"Give him a good poke from me!" He called, cupping his hands around his mouth.

"How do you know it's a boy and not a girl?" I called back. What is this, the fifties?

"Just give him a bloody poke, woman!" Was his adamant reply.

I paddled further out, about halfway into the lake. Now that I think about it, where did Potter get the boat from in the first place? You know what? I'm just gonna assume he stole it.

Also, another side note, do you know how bloody large the Black Lake is? I don't know how long it took me to paddle out there but honestly it felt like hours. By the time I was ready to get to the provoking part of the activity my arms felt like they were going to fall off.

Anyway, long story short, I used a rather potent stinging hex on the squid (sorry Lottie), and then charmed the boat to paddle itself back to the shore because it seems that when I am in a rush to get out of a dangerous situation I have an innate ability to remember all sorts of charms that I can't in regular situations.

Fortunately for me, the boat did not stop when once it had reached land, and before it stopped, skidded straight at Potter, who took a flailing leap in order to avoid being hit. Now _that_ was a good birthday present. He deserved it for planning this whole charade.

Potter stumbled to his feet and drew out a piece of paper from his robes, trying to play it cool. Unfortunately for him, he stumbled on a stone and tumbled to the floor again. Hopefully he'll be alright for Quidditch practice.

I grabbed the paper from his limp hand and read the next clue:

 _Go to the place where_

 _I like to be more than I_

 _Like writing haikus._

Okay, it's definitely Potter that's been writing the poetry. (Not that I really had any doubt after the last one)

The issue with this one is that there's lots of options: the Great Hall, the Kitchens, the Great Hall again, the Quidditch Pitch, _not_ the bathrooms by the smell of it, wherever Lily is, or perhaps the dormitories.

Well if you weigh writing haikus against the options, I feel the only feasible ones are the Great Hall or the Quidditch Pitch, and honestly I am unsure. I will try the Great Hall; James Potter's love of food is unparalleled (except perhaps by Lottie and her eggs).

 **Saturday**

 **October 3, 1977**

 **The Quidditch Pitch**

It was _not_ the Great Hall. I walked around for a bit, marvelling at all the people who were eating food, (and then maybe sat for ten or thirty minutes to eat lunch) and saw absolutely no one that I cared about.

Actually, that's a lie. Mark Abery was there but he didn't say 'happy birthday'. I may never recover from the emotional trauma.

I decided to check out the Quidditch Pitch after finishing a well-earned lunch, where I found Marley waiting for me, asleep. I nudged her awake, where she had the _gall_ to be annoyed at ME for taking so long to find her. Whose birthday is it again? Who fell asleep anyway? It's not my fault you decided to get up at 5:45 am in the morning. If you're going to blame anyone, blame my mother. She birthed me.

Her challenge involved me flying around on a broomstick to find seven different scraps of parchment hidden on the castle's rooves. The main issue was that I was not allowed to use my own broomstick, the fast and reliable Nimbus 1001, and was instead issued a Swiftstick. That's right, folks, you heard me correctly.

A SWIFTSTICK.

The bloody broom is what, 25 years old now? I mean sure, it's faster than a Tinderblast, but it has absolutely no lift-off power, and has never been used by any professional Quidditch team ever because it's honestly terrible. Honestly, my real question is where did Marley even get one?

The look on her face as she handed me the broom kind of made me wonder if she only gave it to me for being late and possibly scaring her when I woke her up.

By the time I had managed to learn how to steer the bloody broom so that it turned less than ninety degrees in the direction I wanted it to, it was definitely afternoon. By the time I had managed to find all the pieces whilst avoiding being seen by the Hogwarts staff and students, it was _well_ into the afternoon. Marley wasn't even there when I put the Swiftstick in a cobwebby corner of the broom shed where it belongs.

Luckily the parchment pieces, once pieced together, held the next clue.

 _Unlike the last beautifully written clue,_

 _The next location focuses on you._

 _Where do you go when you need to de-stress?_

 _(Though I'm not fond of it, I must confess)_

That one I didn't even need to think about.

The Library.

 **Saturday**

 **October 3, 1977**

 **The Library**

Remus was sitting in a window alcove in the Ancient Runes section reading a book, and brightened immediately as I walked in. I like to think it's because he saw my face, and not because my presence meant he could participate in his part of 'The Day of Gryffindor.'

"Eva, welcome!" He said, closing his book and jumping down. "Good timing, I had just finished my chapter."

I'm good like that.

"How are you enjoying your 'Amazing Race,' or was it Gryffindor Race? Something to do with one of the two, or maybe both. I can't remember." Remus stared into the distance with a look of confusion before shaking his head and smiling at me. "So?"

"Well I can't say that it's one of the best things I've ever done, but I'm sure that this challenge will be more fun than the last one."

"The old Cleansweep give you a bit of trouble did it?"

"Cleansweep? Marley gave me a bloody Swiftstick!"

"I promise that was not meant to happen," Remus looked alarmed. "We best get moving then; no wonder you took so long! If you want I'll have words with Marley after this is all finished," he smiled.

I _knew_ Marley wasn't supposed to leave me with that Swiftstick. Bloody Marley and the bloody broom. Bloody Potter and this bloody day. It's supposed to be _my birthday,_ thank you very much. Oh well, at least I get to spend some time with Remus. You need to consider the positives in times like these.

Remus gave me a piece of paper with a collection of letters, numbers and runes, and told me that my mission was to decode the message and find the corresponding book. It took me less time than I thought it would, and by the impressed look on Remus' face, less time than he thought it would (wife material, right?). Unfortunately the next book had a different code, and the next one and the one after that, until the fifth book opened to my next stanza of poetry.

 _Double, double, toil and trouble,_

 _Fire burn and cauldron bubble,_

 _First go to the third-year room,_

 _Left, right, right, left, number two._

Remus peered over my shoulder and read the clue. "That's one of his better ones, I think. Most of them barely make any sense. He should really switch from haiku to iambic tetrameter."

"Perhaps he should switch from haiku to silence, and give us all a break."

Remus laughed. "Try getting Prongs to do that without a fight. You'd be hard pressed to get him to stop speaking let alone writing terrible poetry."

"Lily and I once glued all of the poems he wrote her in fourth year onto a poster and into the shape of his face and hung it up on the wall for decoration. We ended up having to take it down because it was giving Lottie nightmares."

"Is it scary that I can picture that poster really clearly in my mind?" Remus grinned. "Anyway, we can chat later tonight. You'd best be off to the next one. You know where you're going?"

Is it rude if I say 'obviously?'

"Potions classroom, right?"

"You know I can't say," replied Remus, who then dramatically winked in my direction. "Good luck, and happy birthday by the way."

 **Saturday**

 **October 3, 1977**

 **Potions Classroom**

Okay this one might be short because I feel quite ill, which, unfortunately, is my own damn fault. I'm considering suing Slughorn for malpractice or terrible teaching or _something._

After bidding farewell to darling Remus I rushed off to my potions classroom from third year, took a left and two rights, and then opened the second door on the left.

To no one's surprise, there stood Lily Evans, calmly sitting upon a chair, a table of potions in front of her.

"I've been expecting you," she grinned, stroking an imaginary cat. "Welcome to your doom."

Lily explained that in front of her lay seven different potions that all looked similar. My goal was to identify which potion would have no adverse affects on me if I drank it, and in order to find out if I was right, I would, naturally, need to down a potion. Lily looked quite pleased at the prospect, especially after gleefully informing me that one was actually poisonous, and that if I did by chance happen to drink it, then she had the antidote ready.

Glad to know that she wasn't going to actually prevent me from drinking the poison, just that she was going to try and stop me from dying if I did.

One I immediately identified as babbling beverage, and soon crossed three others off the list. The three that were left all looked unfortunately unfamiliar. The one on the left had a light mist rising from the bottle, the middle one smelled of horseradish, and the final one looked identical to the other two, with no distinguishing properties.

I only received an 'E' for potions in my O.W.L.s, so I'm not nearly as good at potions as Lily, but I'm also not terrible. My difficulty with this 'test' or whatever it was, was that I couldn't remember if I had ever come across the last three potions before, so I honestly didn't know which was which.

With as much confidence as I could muster, I picked up the one on the far right and downed it straight away, unfortunately quicker than Lily could yell, "wait, not that one!"

Lily leaped around the table and shoved a foul tasting liquid down my throat as my stomach started cramping up. Thankfully, after a few seconds the pain cleared up, but my head went a bit foggy.

"Eva, I am so, so sorry!" Lily cried, fetching an empty glass and filling it with water. "I didn't think you'd actually pick the Baneberry potion, I mean don't you remember last year when Slughorn gave us that extra reading in the first few weeks? It was on poisons that look like other potions."

"No!" I coughed, thankful for the water.

"Well I'm really sorry." Lily handed me the potion that smelled like horseradish. "Here's this one. It's just a Calming Draught. It won't stop the side effects of the antidote but it might calm you down a bit. I was honestly joking when I said I'd let you drink the poison. I hadn't expected you to just chug it down with no warning!"

I drank the calming horseradish potion, and a piece of parchment materialised out of thin air.

"Do you want me to read it to you?" Asked Lily. I nodded yes. My head hurt and it felt fuzzy. Unfortunately the fog overwhelmed any feelings that corresponded with the word 'calm.'"

 _Betelgeuse, Altair,_

 _Pollux, Alpha Pegasi,_

 _Climbing lots of stairs._

"Do you know where to go?"

"Astronomy Tower." Glad to know my brain still works.

"Sorry again, Eva. It's the last challenge though, so you'll feel better soon! The effects should wear off in about an hour."

"S'alright. Thanks."

I headed for the Astronomy Tower.

My head bloody hurts.

 **Saturday**

 **October 3, 1977**

 **Astronomy Tower**

In my fuzzy state of mind, it didn't occur to me to think of whom might be waiting for me in the Astronomy Tower. Despite that, I wasn't really surprised when I saw Sirius Black leaning against the stone with a bottle of firewhisky in his hand.

"Welcome, Birthday Girl," smiles Black, "to the fun game."

That's not ominous at all.

"My challenge is easy. We both take a swig of this lovely firewhisky I have provided for us. It has already been drunk out of, by me, but that's just going to add to the fun. How it works is I ask you a question; you answer it, or drink. You do the same for me. Whoever takes three drinks first loses. You win, we go straight to the party. I win, you drink whatever I haven't drunk. Capiche?"

Merlin's left buttock. My head hurts, and this game is not something that I think will make it any better.

"Sounds easy enough."

"Oh wait, did I not mention?" Black pretends to look confused. He takes another swig of the firewhisky, then pulls a small glass vial from his pocket and empties it into the bottle. "The alcohol is now infused with veritaserum. Once you drink, you tell the truth."

I take a deep breath. Surely this can't be too difficult. All I have to do is answer the questions. If all else fails, I can just drink the firewhisky. Surely being a lightweight won't add to the problem? I don't drink all that often. It's not as if I really have any other choice though, do I? Does 'foggy head' excuse me from the last activity? Does it being my birthday excuse me from this possible form of torture?

Black grins and takes a swig before passing the bottle to me. "Let the games begin, Bishop."

I cough down a mouthful before passing the bottle back and sitting down against the wall. My head is still _very_ sore and fuzzy. I can't think. What am I doing again?

Black attempts to look uninterested, but I sense that he's already taking great enjoyment from this game. "I'll start easy," he says. "This can be our practice round, just to make sure everything's working alright." He glances at my diary. "Do you write about me in your diary?"

I feel an overwhelming urge to answer him. "Yes."

He grins.

My turn. Think Eva. Ah, yes. "Do you want me to write about you in my diary?"

He raises his eyebrows and laughs. "Yes."

I don't even want to know what that's supposed to mean. My head is fuzzy. The firewhisky did not help. Did I just ask him a question or did I imagine that happening?

Black sits down across from me and places the bottle between us. "I see that you're ready to play. I must say I'm more nervous than I thought I was going to be." He looks confused for a second. "And the veritaserum's probably going to be more annoying than I thought it was going to be."

"You're annoying."

I'm not entirely sure why I said that. It just sort of came out. Head fog. Veritaserum.

"Bishop, I'm not sure that your veritaserum is working," he grins, "you should probably take another sip just to be sure. I'm definitely not," he pauses trying to get the words out. "I'm not," he tries again and fails to say whatever he was trying to. He sighs dramatically. "I hoped it wouldn't be like this. Alright. My go."

I take another deep breath.

Black thinks for a second, "Have you ever wanted to snog a Slytherin?"

I wrinkle my nose. "No."

The bottle looms in front of me. "Have you ever regretted any of the pranks you've pulled?"

"Yes," is his immediate answer.

"Which one?"

"It's not your turn, Evelyn. What is something you have done before that was in major breach of Hogwarts rules?"

"Well today I sneaked into Professor Selwyn's office, stole a crystal ball and left an enlarged version of it outside her door."

Black frowns at me. "That's cheating."

"No it's not," I answered the question truthfully. "What was the prank you most regret pulling?"

"Fifth year when I made you drink that potion that turned your hair red and your skin green for Christmas and you cried for a week."

"Who told you that?"

"Lily. Dammit. It's not your turn." He takes his time thinking of a question. When he comes up with one he smiles sweetly and asks, "What is something that you have done that would make your darling Professor Flitwick upset with you?"

The nerve! The audacity! My darling Flitwick was off-bounds, or so I thought. It seems as if Black isn't one to honour a gentleman's agreement.

Anyway, I had to think for a bit before answering the question. Not sure if I've mentioned it, but my best friend gave me poison and so now my head hurts. And it's my birthday.

"I've been a terrible charms tutor so far. Mark Abery has been too focused on a girl in his year to concentrate and I've taught him nothing."

Black frowns as if he's disappointed by my answer. Too bad, Black. You invoke the name of Flitwick and things start to get nasty. "What's the biggest mistake you've ever made?"

Again, not really sure where that question came from. Probably my subconscious. Or maybe I just associate Black and mistakes as the same thing. _Ooh. Burn._

Black looks mildly amused. He smiles and takes a swig from the bottle. Interesting.

One down, two to go.

"How long have you liked Remus?"

I can tell he's fazed by my question prowess and is trying to get me to drink, but it does kinda feel like he's going easy on me. Oh well, he'll have no such luck. I just want this game to be over, and that means his destruction.

"Since the beginning of last year. Why did you move in with Potter?"

Black fixes me with a hard stare. "Who told you that?"

"Everyone seemed to know except me."

"Careful, Evelyn." He takes a second swig. "That is a conversation for possibly never, and definitely not now."

"Just playing your game." My head _still_ is fuzzy. What were we just talking about?

"Well, if you really want to play this game, answer me this. Did you love Amos Diggory?" Black's face is expressionless.

I go to answer and then stop myself. What kind of question is that? Who does he think he is?

"That's none of your business."

"I don't care."

My head feels fuzzy. It still hurts. Has it been an hour yet? I decide to take a swig from the bottle just to spite him.

He raises an eyebrow, but says nothing.

"Do you love Aislin Murphy?"

"No," he stares up at the ceiling and shakes his head. "Most definitely not."

Honestly I couldn't say where my brain is getting these questions from. I can however attribute them to the fuzziness and the firewhisky. Can alcohol fumes make you intoxicated?

"Why didn't you answer the last question I asked you?"

Is Black allowed to do that? Isn't he technically asking it twice? Is anyone mediating this?

"To spi-," I try to say, but it won't come out. "To sp-." Nothing. His mouth curls up just enough for me to notice.

This game is stupid. I decide to take a swig from the firewhisky bottle. It burns my throat. On the upside, my head feels less fuzzy now.

"Why did you become an animagus?" I know it's a lame question, but it's tricky to come up with the hard hitting ones all the time. Brain fuzz, remember?

He groans and eyes the bottle, then stands up and starts pacing. "You _had_ to ask that didn't you," he mutters, "and if you're asking it means you don't know, and if you don't know it means I can't tell you."

Now that's gibberish if I ever heard it.

"Dammit, Eva, I really thought I was going to win this." He strides purposely to the bottle and gulps down a fair bit more than one mouthful. He holds it back out to me. "You won. Drink up."

Was that part of the game? I can't remember. I take a tentative sip, and then another one as he stares me down. He offers me a hand and pulls me up. My head must still be fuzzy because I feel dizzy all of a sudden. Maybe it's the firewhisky.

"Drink this. It's the antidote for the veritaserum." He takes a sip and then hands me the bottle. "I'll lead the way, shall I?"

 **Saturday**

 **October 3, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dormitory**

I just realised I've written Saturday but it is most definitely Sunday at this point. I'm far too tired to write it all down, so I'll just write the most important part. I'll fill the rest of the details in tomorrow. I'm still reeling from the shock.

Much to my surprise, Black led me to a random corridor on the seventh floor. Before I could voice my confusion he paced back and forth in front of a stretch of wall maybe three times, which led to the materialisation of a door in the wall. I chose to ignore the magic door and instead focus on what was happening on the other side of it.

The door opened to a cosy room, much like the Gryffindor Common Room, but it had been decorated with streamers and enchanted balloons (there were some that floated upside down and one in the shape of Flitwick's head) and was occupied by my dormmates, the Marauders, and Dorcas Meadowes (who was standing next to Remus). Someone had managed to get some food from the kitchens as there was a table filled with it, and someone else had somehow sneaked butterbeer inside.

"Happy birthday!" Shouted everyone as Lily ushered me inside.

"Congrats on finishing your very own birthday race!" She smiled. "We thought that after your big day you'd rather just chill with us than have a massive super awesome extravaganza as Potter so eloquently described to us earlier. Sorry again about the potion thing. Have a butterbeer!"

"I, the official Games Master," Potter cried from the top of the food table, "officially announce you the winner of 'The Day of Gryffindor' and as such shall enjoy hand picked comforts and a cacophony of gifts, including, but not limited to, a collection of haikus written by yours truly." Potter bowed after his announcement and then jumped off the table and immediately started grabbing food from it.

I must say, that despite the absolute chaos of the day I had just had, the party was actually really fun. We ate food, drank butterbeer, and laughed and talked for a while, just enjoying being together. Lottie informed me that they were planning on doing gifts at the very end, as Potter had some fun party games planned.

"Spin the bottle!" Potter cried, gleefully grabbing Black's now empty bottle of firewhisky.

"Or not!" Lily responded, grabbing the bottle as Potter vaulted onto the sofa.

He pouted at her and attempted some sort of pitiful look before jumping back up and clutching at my hands. "Evelyn Katherine Bishop," he winked, "may you do me the honour of spinning the bottle?"

I had to agree with Lily on this one. "We're not playing spin the bottle, Potter. What are we, fourteen?"

"Just because you're older than us doesn't mean you can boss us around," Potter cried dramatically, falling to the floor in what can only be described as a grotesque display of human emotion. "At least let us play truth or dare! The last hurrah before adulthood!"

I looked at Lottie; the voice of reason. She shrugged. I looked at Lily; she nodded her head although it could have been a spasm. In a further bout of indecision, I glanced at Remus. He gave me a smile. Who knows what that meant.

But, you know what? My head no longer hurt, I was definitely hyped up, and like Potter said - it was my last hurrah. "Why not," I said at last. Surely this game is safer.

Potter leaped to his feet with unnatural elegance and congregated everyone to the couches in front of the fire, reclaiming the empty bottle. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls," he whispered, practising spinning the bottle. "Welcome to your destiny."

The game was easy enough at first. People were happy doing silly things - eating ten Bertie Botts every flavour beans in a row, seeing how many sherbet lemons they could fit in their mouth at once, describing their first Hogwarts crush, and doing a rather frightening imitation of Dumbledore (we can thank Marley for that).

Soon enough, the butterbeer was mostly gone and James Potter and Sirius Black were singing a song of their own invention, titled 'Ode to McGonagall's Hair.'

Potter spun the bottle, which landed on Dorcas. "Truth," she said.

"Do you love Remus?" Potter asked with a grin.

Dorcas looked uncomfortable. Remus choked on his butterbeer. "We've only been dating for a week, Potter." (Can I just say - you ask that on my birthday, Potter? _My_ birthday?)

He grinned wider. Dorcas spun the bottle. It landed on Peter. "Dare?" He said, somewhat uncertainly.

"I dare you to eat a slug."

Peter grimaced. "Truth."

"If you could snog anyone in the room, who would it be?"

Peter's face went the colour of the furnishings. "Uh, um-" he spluttered.

"Can't back out now," urged Dorcas, who seemed eager to move the focus away from the previous conversation.

"Well, um, if I had to, then probably Lottie," he spluttered, looking everywhere but her direction. Lottie, not one for a poker face, sank into the couch.

Peter spun the bottle.

Lily.

"Dare."

"I, uh, dare you to snog Prongs!" He said, as if it were a stroke of genius.

We all laughed. Good one Peter. It's not like that one's been done before or anything. Totally not going to happen. Good distraction tactic though.

Lily stared blankly at Peter. She then stood up and crossed to the other side of the circle where Potter was sitting, his face strangely docile.

"Well come on, Potter. What are you doing on the ground? I'm not a contortionist." Lily raised an eyebrow.

Potter shook his head, as if he were waking up from a dream, and right there, in front of everybody grabbed Lily Evans by the waist and kissed her.

The silence was broken by a hoot from Black and a gasp from Alice, Potter and Lily still lip-locked in the middle of the circle.

"Alright, Prongs, that's enough!" Yelled Black after what seemed like forever, grabbing Potter by the arm and prying him away from Lily. Potter looked strangely dignified as he sat down in his seat. Lily's mouth quirked up at the edges.

"You look like you've been practising that one," laughed Dorcas, breaking the awestruck silence.

Lily's smile widened. "We may have."

"WHAT?" Black screeched, jumping on top of Potter and smacking him repeatedly on the chest as the room erupted with noise. "YOU'VE BEEN SNOGGING LILY EVANS AND YOU DIDN'T THINK TO TELL ME?"

Potter attempted to push Black off him and straightened his glasses. "I'm a man of my word, and I promised the lady that I would keep my silence until she saw fit."

"It's about bloody time you said something, Lil," grinned Lottie, jumping up and giving her a hug. "I totally knew, but I was waiting for you to say something. You've got the subtlety of an elephant."

"I'm so happy for you guys," Alice gushed, joining the hug. "It was about time! We can have joint weddings!"

Lily joined the growing number of people with red faces.

Potter attempted to push the boys away from him and cleared his throat. "If everyone could just relax, there's nothing of real interest going on here that has to be discussed right at this moment that cannot be discussed at a later point in time with very explicit details- or maybe not any explicit details," he said, changing tactics after a glare from Lily. "We shall continue on with the festivities!"

Honestly, I was in shock. I think that the mix of butterbeer and firewhisky were participating in dulling my senses, so I didn't really think to do anything except stare in mild horror. I just did not expect this whatsoever. I distinctly remember that Lily still hated Potter a couple of weeks ago! She spent the whole time complaining about them being potions partners - in fact, she complained about that to me only yesterday. I don't understand. What is going on? Was this an after effect of the antidote - hallucinations?

Anyway, this can be discussed and evaluated at a later date, as now I need to go to sleep. I'll finish writing in the morning.

Goodnight, diary.

Happy birthday to me.

 _ **AN: Sorry for the lateness of the chapter everyone! I was going to split this into two chapters (not sure if you've noticed but it's slightly longer than double my normal chapters) but I decided instead to just make one super deluxe chapter for everyone!**_

 _ **A few (lots?) of interesting developments this chapter - all I can say is that Eva is definitely an idiot but I love her and that James Potter needs to chill. And also needs to stop writing poetry. (Hopefully this doesn't mean that Lily will be on the constant receiving end, right? Poor girl.)**_

 _ **Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter - please let me know your favourite parts in the comments and any suggestions or ideas are not only welcome, but they are encouraged! Also please chuck us a vote because it motivates me to write faster.**_

 _ **Thanks and love you all!**_

 _ **XXX**_


	16. I Need to Pay Attention Where I'm Going

**Sunday**

 **October 4, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dormitory**

Okay so when I woke up this morning I obviously thought I had dreamed everything that had happened last night; obviously Lily and Potter were _not_ snogging, because Potter is a twat. Unfortunately, when Lily and Lottie joined my breakfast solitude, Lily asked if I was alright because of, "you know, everything that happened last night, with Po- James and I. I know you're funny about these sorts of things."

I'm not sure if I blacked out, but I think I felt dizzy. I honestly did not expect this to happen ever, and so now that it had happened, it took a while for it to sink in. I of course, asked her _how_ this had happened as it was _completely_ unexpected, which caused Lottie to burst into laughter because apparently I'm "the most completely and utterly oblivious person on the face of the earth and if Flitwick had been transfigured into an elephant and started doing the polka in the middle of the Great Hall I would be too distracted by literally anything to notice."

This, of course, was ridiculous. It's Flitwick. I would notice.

She then started listing all of the giveaways, such as how on the first day back Lily literally told us that she had met up with Potter in France, coincidentally of course, how last weekend Lily decided not to go to Hogsmeade because she was too busy doing Head Girl things ("and who passes up Hogsmeade for academic reasons, right?"), how she was repeatedly coming back to the dorm later than curfew; the list continues.

I honestly felt baffled. I thought they hated each other? I voiced this concern.

"Well the thing is," Lily said, "is that people change over time. I mean, sure, there was a time when I absolutely despised him because he was an utter twat, and honestly he still is, but it's different now. He's different, emotionally mature. It's hard to explain. Besides, it's all still quite new. It's only been a month or two."

"A month? Or two?"

"That's what I just said, isn't it?"

"No, which is it?"

"Oh." Lily looked vaguely confused. "Well I guess it started over the summer, but then he was a git and we didn't really talk for the last week of August. Once we came back to Hogwarts, remember how I was mad at him on the train? He'd failed to mention that he'd gotten Head Boy, and that's not the sort of thing you just _forget_ to mention. But he apologised, (Lottie gasped) and so then it was back on. So it's more up to personal opinion as to whether it's been a month or two."

"But you were so angry when you were paired with him for Potions?"

"Well if you hadn't guessed, we're not exactly trying to advertise it. It's nobody's business except ours, and besides, I was still annoyed at him."

At that point in the conversation, the boys deigned to join us at the table, Potter grinning as he sat down next to Lily, and Black acting normally, aside from not acknowledging my presence whatsoever. Not, of course, that that bugged me. But still. Remus poured a glass of pumpkin juice and inquired as to whether anyone was planning on saying something outrageous before he drank it, which prompted to Potter to say something inappropriate about Madame Pince as soon as he took a gulp. I patted his back as he choked.

 **Thursday**

 **October 8, 1977**

 **Potions**

You'd think that I would have plenty of time to write in my diary during the week, but apparently not. However, the only real thing of interest that has occurred so far is Remus and I having to do a partner project for Muggle Studies. Black is still not really talking to me. Actually, it's not that he's _not_ talking to me; he says "hello" and "how are you" but not much else.

Mum sent me another letter.

 _Evie,_

 _Haven't heard from Sirius in a while! I was sad to hear that you two had broken up, he seems like a nice boy! Your father has taken up gardening, and he is not very good at it, but I won't be the one to tell him!_

 _Hope your studies are going well. Give Lily and Lottie our love and tell them that they must come for the holidays. Bring those boys as well; it sounds like they are in need of a good home cooked meal._

 _Also please let Sirius know that if he wants any more recipes he just has to send me a letter. I hope the brownies turned out alright._

 _Lots of love,_

 _Mum._

Ignoring the obvious faults in the letter, I can only assume that the recipe mum is talking about refers to my birthday gift.

I have just now realised I have forgotten to say what my friends generously gifted me, so I shall proceed to document them:

As mentioned already, Black gifted me with some brownies. I had assumed that mum made them seeing as he ate the ones mum sent me originally, but apparently he baked them himself. I don't know why he baked me brownies. I haven't eaten them yet. They might be poisoned. The only thing he said when he gave them to me was, "this is because I ate those ones your mum sent you."

Lottie bought me some new clothes as apparently I was in dire need, and Lily found an original copy of _Quintessence: A Quest_ , so that was pretty cool.

Zonkos stuff from Potter and Peter, Honeydukes goodies from Alice, new Quidditch gloves from Marley and Dorcas.

Remus, my darling Remus, bought me a new diary. Leather bound. Beautiful. "For when you've used up your current one with all of your mad scribbling," he joked as he handed it over.

He knows me so well.

But anyway, I'm in Potions currently, and if we remember back to a few weeks ago, my desk buddy is still Sirius Black. I've decided that if he's going to ignore me, then I will just ignore him. Easy peasy.

I can't help but look at him out of the corner of my eye. He's staring at our potion, making sure he keeps stirring it clockwise after every third counterclockwise turn.

I'm supposed to be chopping dandelions, but obviously, I am not. Fiddlesticks, he's noticed.

"Bishop, can you please put down your diary and actually do your work? I had higher hopes of your academic prowess. I need to add the dandelions in about a minute."

See how weird that was?

 **Thursday**

 **October 8, 1977**

 **The Great Hall**

Okay, so potions went by much of the same, and now I'm having lunch with Lily and Lottie. The boys are nowhere to be seen, thank goodness. I don't know how much of this weirdness from Black I can put up with. However, Dorcas is not here either so I don't know if that means she's with Remus or not and what that means for Remus' and my blossoming relationship.

What I really wanted to write about though, is what just happened in the corridor.

We were walking to the Great Hall for lunch when we passed Isadora James and her cronies having what seemed to be a secret girls conversation (I know the drill).

Lily and Lottie walked past, ignoring them, but I couldn't help but overhear Aislin Murphy say, "but, do you think he loves me?"

Normally I wouldn't care about this sort of thing, but Cillian Gallagher replied, "It's Sirius Black. Who on earth knows?"

Now Lily and Lottie informed me after that apparently I did the wrong thing in this situation, which I think is ridiculous, as all I wanted to do was let the poor girl know the truth! Despite being a Hufflepuff, I had decided that I didn't want anyone else to fall victim to the horrors associated with the aforementioned male.

"He doesn't," I said, interrupting their conversation. Isadora James shot me a glare. Lily and Lottie didn't notice and kept walking on.

"What do you mean?" asked Aislin, pushing to the front of the group.

"It's nothing, Ais," Isadora said, "she's just trying to upset you."

Now this upset _me_ a little, because obviously that wasn't true. "I'm not lying," I replied, responding glare for glare. "He told me. Last Saturday."

"Told you what?" Aislin asked again, looking panicked.

"That he doesn't love you. He laughed when I asked him, actually, so he was definitely being serious. Plus he was hopped up on veritaserum so it's not as if he could lie anyway."

"He laughed when you asked him?" asked Aislin, clutching onto Isadora's arm. "Why did you ask him?" She said quietly, as if to herself.

"She's lying, Ais, just ignore her," Isadora tried to give her a hug. Cillian just kind of stood there. "Why are you even saying this, Bishop? It's just mean."

"What? I'm just telling her the truth. I thought I was doing her a favour. I could check again, if you wanted, but he's not really talking to me at the moment so I doubt he'd say anything. Plus I think we've run out of veritaserum."

"Of course he's not talking to you," spat Aislin, attempting to steady herself.

"What?"

"He's finally worked out that you're just a prude and that there's no point in spending anymore time with you seeing as you'll never put out. You're useless to him now."

Fortunately for me, I think, Lily and Lottie had returned at the back end of the conversation, and just kind of dragged me away, Lottie apologising for whatever I had said.

Merlin, that girl is fragile.

They came into the Great Hall about ten minutes after us, Isadora James sending me weird threatening messages with her eyes.

Oh, drat. The boys have just walked in.

Dorcas isn't with Remus, thank goodness.

As soon as they came over to us, Lily kind of stared at Potter and they had some weird eye conversation with strange hand gestures. Eventually Potter whispered something to Black who glanced at me, eyebrows raised, and then all four of the boys left, grabbing some sandwiches on the way out.

"Sometimes, Eve, you really do make life more difficult than it needs to be," Lily sighed.

Who knows what _that's_ supposed to mean.

 **Thursday**

 **October 8, 1977**

 **Charms**

Just taking five minutes to write this because I need to get back to my charms work (priorities, right?), but Flitwick, darling Flitwick, came up to me and told me that Mark Abery had given me glowing praise for my expert tutelage.

This, of course, is kind of confusing because both times we were interrupted by Louise McKendrick and didn't really get much done. Flitwick also asked if I could give him another lesson after classes today, because he really thought that we were making good progress.

No offence to Louise, but I hope she doesn't show up. Nice, but annoying. She is a fifthy after all.

 **Thursday**

 **October 8, 1977**

 **The Library**

OKAY. SO.

Mark Abery and I are studying, or learning, or whatever you'd like to call it, but he's not taking in a bloody thing. He's just so distracted, it's disgusting.

I should have thought about this before I agreed to any of this. I was too blinded by Flitwick's praise to consider the fact that I would be attempting to teach a fifteen year old boy the nuances of charm work.

"So... is it kind of like this?" Mark waved his wand in an erratic pattern that looked more like he was trying to swat a fly than do anything magical.

"Uh, a little more subdued. Try this." I showed him the correct movement.

Honestly.

He tried again and failed miserably.

"Um, so Mark," I decided I was going to get to the root of this problem. "Have you always had particular difficulty with stunning charms or are you just a bit distracted today?"

"What?" Mark looked at me and then blinked. "Oh, right. Sorry."

I raised an eyebrow.

"You probably don't want to hear it though. You've got seventh year problems to deal with."

Pah. I don't have problems. Plus, I'm an expert problem solver, as demonstrated earlier today.

"Try me."

"Well," Mark said, staring at the floor, "not sure if you remember her, Louise, but-"

"Oh, yes, I definitely remember her. Sorry. Continue."

"So, Louise. Well she's one of my best friends, but there's this girl I like, Julie. She's a prefect, and in my house, and Louise doesn't like her at all. So I don't really know what to do about it."

"I thought you and Louise were dating?"

Mark Abery's face went red. Oh yes, I forgot. Fifteen year old male.

"We're, um, just good friends."

Sure, Mark. Sure.

"Actually, can we not talk about this. What were you saying about stunning spells?

I decided to let him off based on the fact that it looked as if he might melt into the floor.

Who's this Julie person though?

OH!

IT'S JULIE ANSEN! IT'S LOTTIE'S SISTER! She's a fifth year Gryffindor and she's a prefect, so it must be her. Oh, Merlin, this is exciting. Except now I'm too distracted to teach Mark anything.

"Um, Eva? What were you saying about stunning spells?"

Right then. Back to it.

We go through the stunning spells a few more times before I am confident that he actually knows what he's doing. I suggest he practice on Black. He promises me that he will.

I notice Remus come into the library out of the corner of my eye. He heads over to the Arithmancy section which is weird because Remus definitely doesn't do Arithmancy so there's no need for him to be there, unless, of course, he's getting a book for Black. This, however, would be unusual because the last time I checked, Black was a semi-competent human being and should be able to find a book without assistance.

Now that we're all up to date, I am going to finish this lesson with Mark and then go investigate. Obviously something's up, but what? The suspense is killing me.

Okay need to finish this but I will return in about 20 minutes.

 **Thursday**

 **October 8, 1977**

 **The Library, still**

Mark has just left the library, hopefully now able to perform an effective stunning charm. I guess we'll find out, depending on whether Black ends up in the hospital wing or not.

I also saw Dorcas come into the library a little while ago but I wasn't really paying attention so I didn't see where she went. I think I might have a chat to her though because I do actually quite like Dorcas but we haven't really gotten off to the best start this year, what with the whole mucus incident and then the whole Remus thing.

She did pick out a nice pair of Quidditch gloves for me after all.

Also, as a side note, I'm getting far better at writing and walking. The whole time I've been doing it this year I haven't fallen over once! (Quick, touch wood!)

I'm almost at the Arithmancy section, although it's quite large, which is weird because who does Arithmancy, right? Obviously aside from Black and Lily, but I doubt it's very popular. I am proud to say that in comparison the Charms section is quite extensive.

Maybe he's studying? No one goes in the Arithmancy section so he probably just wanted a quiet place to study. There's lots of dark-

Oh, Merlin on a STICK.

REMUS, HOW COULD YOU?

There is something inherently disturbing about seeing two people snogging, and it's awfully worse when one of those people is one of your friends and the other one is your FUTURE HUSBAND!

Have they no shame? Honestly I just feel so incredibly betrayed right now. I mean, sure, I thought maybe it was a joke and if it wasn't then maybe they would only last for like, a week, but this scene in front of my unfortunately discredits all of the aforementioned theories.

This time of trouble calls for making another list.

 _ **A Complete List of All of the Unnecessary Things Evelyn K. O. Bishop is Feeling Right Now**_

 **1.** Horror. No one should have to see something that disturbing. Not ever. I don't even want to talk about it honestly.

 **2.** Sadness? Again, don't want to talk about it.

 **3.** Betrayal, obviously.

 **4.** Confusion. What is happening? Why is it happening? When did it start happening? For how long will this be happening? How can I prevent this from happening ever again?

 **5.** That's about all the feelings I have time for right now. Ask me again in six months.

I need to go and find a nice hole to stick my head in. Perhaps a stair to fall through. Possibly a lake to sink below. Maybe even a blanket to crawl under.

Regardless, I need to remove myself from this behind this shelf as fast as humanly possible.

Merlin, I just banged into said shelf. They've stopped. Oh, dammit, how do I perform a disillusionment spell again? Right, that's how. In times of trouble I can always rely on the teachings of my muse, the darling Professor Flitwick.

"I can't see anything," whispers Dorcas peering around the bookshelf and straight at me.

"It was probably nothing," Remus grabs her arm and pulls her back towards him. "The library echoes like crazy."

Dorcas giggles like an idiot. "Well if there's anybody there we'd best give them a show."

Remus raises an eyebrow. I'm sure if he had been drinking something he would have choked. I decide to leave before he has an opportunity to respond. I've had enough of this for one lifetime.

I hightail it out of the library, forgetting to undisillusion myself and smack into a bunch of Hufflepuffs. Thankfully, they scream in shock and run away.

Black laughs.

Wait, what?

No, I'm just imagining things.

Dammit, I left my charms books in the library. I undisillusion myself.

"Well I must say thank you for that entertainment," says Black, hopping down from a nearby alcove and folding up a piece of parchment.

Huh.

"Also I'd recommend hopping into this alcove for a couple of minutes before going back in for your things," he adds, walking down the corridor. He jumps through a tapestry and disappears.

What on earth just happened? Did I just imagine that whole thing?

Whatever just happened, I'm going to discount real/phantom-Black's 'advice'. Either way you can generally assume he's not to be trusted.

I rush back into the library and almost crash into Dorcas and Remus who have apparently decided that they no longer want to put on a snogging show. I'm glad they've come to their senses because honestly anyone could have walked in on that, and how do you think those Hufflepuffs would have coped? That's right, they would not have coped. They would have had nightmares for at least a month.

I know I will.

"Eva," says Remus in surprise as I dart in-between them. I would just like to clarify that it's not like I pushed my way through because that would be weird and I'm not desperate or anything. - they were already walking separately.

"Remus," I nod, "Dorcas-the, Dorc-as. Right. Good chat." I rush off to grab my books and ignore whatever Remus says to me as I leave.

Merlin, that was a close one.

I grab my books and decide to weave my way through the different sections just in case Remus and Dorcas decide to linger.

Unfortunately, I almost crash into a pair of Slytherins. Bloody hell. I need to pay more attention to where I'm walking.

It's Regulus Black and Slithery Snake, wait, no, that's not his name. Anyway, they're huddling over some book and muttering in strange voices. Frustratingly, there's no way around them except by walking straight past them.

I decide to brave it.

Immediately Snape slams the book shut and turns to face me. "Spying, Bishop? You should keep your nose out of where it doesn't belong."

"Just trying to get out of the library," I respond, edging past them.

Snape decides to get all up in my face. "If you were trying to leave, why wouldn't you just walk through the middle? I'm not stupid, mudblood."

Obviously I'm not going to explain the details of my strained relationship with some of my fellow Gryffindors, but I _must_ say that I'm getting awfully tired of Snape and his language.

I AM **NOT** IN THE MOOD FOR THIS UTTER NONSENSE.

"Well I'm not lying, you greasy-haired human equivalent of a failure, so give it a break and stop being an utter incompetent disappointment to wizardkind." I fling a bat bogey hex at him for good measure.

Regulus does nothing except try to conceal a smile as I make a run for it.

Snape should know better than to try and cross me today of all days. Idiot.

 **Sunday**

 **October 11, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

So, quick mid-week interruption. Actually, wait, no, it's Sunday. Technically my last few entries were the mid-week interruption.

Anyway.

Just quickly writing this down because I can _not_ contain my laughter.

It was lunchtime and Black had just returned from the Hospital Wing where he had apparently been all morning. He wouldn't tell us what happened, but Lily just informed me, after being informed by Potter, that Black was hit by a stunning charm from an anonymous fifthy.

Mark Abery, you beautiful human.

I need to go find him and congratulate him.

What a wonderful day.

 _ **AN: HEY GUYS, new chapter! (*insert 'yaaay' sound effect here*)**_

 _ **Can I just say thank you to all of my new readers who have been voting and commenting on my chapters because honestly it means a lot, and this chapter is dedicated to someone who actually messaged me because it totally brightened my day. I'm also dedicating previous chapters to all of you because you guys are the best.**_

 _ **No GIF today, but instead we have a meme created by Isadora James' nicer real life counterpart, historically; I hope you guys enjoy. I've popped another one just below. (AN 2.0: All gifs and memes are only visible on Wattpad)**_

 _ **Love all of you, and remember to comment your ideas and reactions and also to VOTE because please?**_

 _ **XOX**_


	17. Christmas In October

**Tuesday**

 **October 20, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

 _Dear Diary,_

Is it weird to write 'dear diary' in my diary? I've never done it before and I don't think that I want to start doing it, but I just wanted to do it one time. Except now that I think about it I'm not even talking to my diary so I should probably just start this again.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _I'm sorry that I haven't written in you for so long - I know, it hurts me too. McGonagall has gone absolutely off her rocker and has apparently decided that we need to put even more effort into our studies than we already are and so has taken to giving us weekly assignments that are absolutely putting my back out. Hopefully it ends soon because it's only late October and I don't know how much longer I can stand this for._

 _Lily and Potter are getting a little bit snugly which is both disturbing and unfortunately cute because they look good together, but the fact that it's Potter really grinds my gears._

 _Remus and Dorcas are still together. That's about all I've got to say on that topic._

 _Black is still ignoring me, which is possibly getting even more frustrating than Potter and Lily. It's annoying because he doesn't talk to me, and then he pops up randomly in different places and makes a comment or something and so he's also possibly stalking me. Maybe I'm just paranoid?_

Alright, that's enough of that. It's too difficult to write in that weird slopey font.

So despite all of my academic troubles, I have been gifted this small moment to write during lunch time because I actually finished my Transfiguration early and I don't have a current Ancient Runes assignment so I have time to _live!_ I'm sorry, that was a lie. I don't have time to breathe, let alone live.

Honestly I think I've pretty much covered everything of interest that has happened over the past week and a bit: Black's weird stalking(?)/ignoring, Potter and Lily, Remus and Dorcas, death by Transfiguration.

Oh, back onto Potter and Lily. Apparently it's not 'official' yet, and there's only a few of us Gryffindors that actually know that it's even a thing at all, but I've had at least three people in the past week come up to me and ask if they're dating. One, why do people care, right? It's just two random people that they don't even know, and two, why are you asking me? I don't ask them about the details of their private lives.

I mean yes, Lily is one of my best friends, but I'm still not won over on the whole 'Potter' thing so whatever they do in their private time is not really something I want to know about.

Speaking of Potter, and back to the Transfiguration note, it seems like the extended amount of schoolwork is driving everyone crazy. There was an incident on Monday when midway through McGonagall's lesson Potter leaped on top of his desk, got down on one knee, transfigured his quill into what appeared to be an actual diamond ring, and asked McGonagall to marry him.

On a side note, if one can transfigure useless objects into diamonds why isn't everyone rich? Will need to do research on this topic.

Anyway, he was interrupted by Black who snatched the ring from his hands and knelt at McGonagall's feet, asking the same question. Remus and Peter shot stars from their wands.

Luckily McGonagall seemed to be in a good mood (probably from all of the torture she's been subjecting us to) and replied with, "Well boys, I'm rather flattered, however I think I'm a bit too old for you, especially with so many other lovely ladies at Hogwarts for you to woo, and I'd rather like to get on with this lesson, unless, of course, you don't think that preparing for your NEWT studies is important- alright, enough with the fireworks, Mr Pettigrew (who had managed to set Cillian Gallagher's hair on fire)."

Potter cried out in alarm and loudly exclaimed that to prove the legitimacy of his affections he would, and I quote, "Douse the lady with water as forceful as my love for you," and actually blasted Cillian directly in the face with a stream of water from his wand.

Remus muttered a quick drying spell under his breath, so I don't think Cillian was too injured.

"Stop that, Potter- no, don't you start either Black, no- just _sit down._ Yes, in your seat, Potter. No- I've already asked you to stop asking me, and _yes_ that means you as well, Mr Black. Miss Gallagher, are you at all injured?"

Cillian seemed too confused by the whole incident to say anything.

"Can I continue, gentlemen, or will I need to offer you all detentions?"

"Well, now that you mention it-"

"That was a rhetorical question, Mr Potter. I would rather all of you stop this foolishness as I will _not_ put up with it whilst I am trying to teach."

"Is there a different type of foolishness that you would be more comfortable with?" Black interjected.

McGonagall pursed her lips, "Both of you, please report to Mr Filch at 8 o'clock tonight- no, tomorrow night. Now please _take your seats._ "

"Glad to see she still prioritises Quidditch over detention," whispered Lily next to me. "What more would you want in a head of house, right?"

 **Saturday**

 **October 24, 1977**

 **The Three Broomsticks**

So apparently last Hogsmeade weekend Lily actually went somewhere with Potter, which was why she couldn't come with us. I'm disgusted with her priorities.

Thankfully, today Lily, Lottie and I are all going which I'm rather happy about. We don't have a whole lot of time here as there's a Potions essay looming in the near future, but long enough that we could pop into Honeydukes (I'm slightly ashamed to say my birthday stash has been completely diminished) and now we're having a nice butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks.

"So how about that Potions essay, right?"

Lottie sighed, "Please no talk about classes, Eve, I can't bear the sound of it. NEWTs are still ages away and yet I feel like I'm going to explode."

"I would just like to point out that I actually don't mind potions-" Lily attempted but was interrupted by a _'shut up Lily'_ from all around.

Lottie and I high-fived.

"I don't appreciate this blatant discrimination against those of us that actually don't mind learning, thank you very much," grumbled Lily.

"Not sure if you've noticed yet Lils, but I wouldn't be surprised if Eva sacrificed herself to save Flitwick if the opportunity ever arose, and I'm a nerd for animals, so jump off your Head Girl high horse there."

Lottie did make a good point. Flitwick and I are tight.

Lily mumbled something incomprehensible.

Lottie ignored her, "Onto brighter and happier topics, _please_ share the goods on James Potter, I can't stand all of this secrecy. Please rate his snogging abilities on a scale from excellent to outstanding, thank you."

Lily blushed, spluttering something along the lines of, "I just don't want to talk about it really, I mean it's not really a thing, et cetera, et cetera, blah blah blah."

"Right, _sure,_ stop with this nonsense. You've already snogged him, in front of all of us I might add, plus I saw you guys getting disturbingly touchy-feely during Herbology on Wednesday, so your attempt at an argument is invalid. It's definitely a thing and there's only so long you can be in denial about it."

I could have sworn I head Lily say something akin to, "Unless your name is Evelyn Bishop," under her breath, but I'm not really sure.

Lottie did that annoying cough smile thing she sometimes does.

"Can I just say," I added, "that I for one do not need to know any snogging details about you and Potter because I just, no."

Lily looked concerned, "Is the thought of me and Potter really so disturbing?"

Lottie shook her head vehemently. "No, Lils, it's not disturbing whatsoever, Eva is just being Eva," she glared at me.

I don't know what she's talking about.

"This whole James thing has honestly been a long time coming, and we all knew it would happen eventually, so you don't need to feel negative about it whatsoever. No one else is."

"Still," said Lily, "I guess I just didn't want it to happen for _so_ long, and now that it is happening I don't really know how I'm supposed to act or feel. It's just so, well, it's Potter."

"I know," Lottie laughed. "And just a question, have you ever actually called him James?"

"Oh," said Lily in slight bewilderment. "Should I do that? Is that something I should do?"

"It's definitely something you should consider."

"Bloody hell," Lily groaned, "what have I got myself in for?"

"I'm not really sure, but it's certainly exciting."

"It is a bit, isn't it," Lily agreed with a smile. "Yes, it is a bit."

 **Monday**

 **October 26, 1977**

 **The Library**

 _ **An Incomplete List of Why the Marauders are COMPLETE and UTTER PRATS and Should be Restrained on Leashes (Except for Possibly Remus) Compiled by Evelyn K. O. Bishop**_

 **1.** Firstly, let me remind you of the incident in Transfiguration in which an innocent girl was harmed because two gits couldn't comprehend the word 'no'.

 **2.** Obviously the years of incessant teasing - for example, Potter's continued use of the nickname 'carrots' when discussing Lily Evans (eventually put to rest in Third Year when I hexed him so each finger would slowly take on the appearance of a carrot at the use of the word).

 **3.** THE FACT THAT I AM TRYING TO STUDY AND IT IS SNOWING IN THE LIBRARY. NOT ONLY IS IT SNOWING, BUT I CAN HEAR CHRISTMAS CAROLS EMANATING VERY LOUDLY FROM SOMEWHERE NEARBY.

IT IS OCTOBER.

How do I know this is the handiwork of Hogwarts' resident hooligans?

POSSIBLY BECAUSE JAMES POTTER AND SIRIUS BLACK ARE FLYING AROUND THE LIBRARY ON THEIR BROOMSTICKS AND DRAPING TINSEL THAT SHOOTS COLOURED CONFETTI FROM IT WHEN SOMEONE WALKS UNDERNEATH IT ALONG THE BOOKSHELVES.

THERE IS A CHRISTMAS TREE BLOCKING THE ENTRANCE AND I CANNOT ESCAPE.

THIS IS MADNESS.

 **4.** They date people that they should definitely _not be dating._ But that's just a side note.

 **5.** Did I mention that for some reason they decided to recreate Christmas in the library in October?

Oh, Merlin's undignified nostril hairs, I cannot seem to shrink this tree down or move it at all. I am stuck in Christmas hell. And I love Christmas, so this is pretty rough.

Ooh, I can hear McGonagall, my saviour, coming down the corridor. "Where did you say Black was, Pettigrew?"

"Doing a thing that is relatively harmless to everyone involved."

"And I suppose Potter, our Head Boy, is also with him?"

"I suppose you may suppose correctly, however I suppose you may also suppose incorrectly."

"Mr. Lupin is also with them?"

"Yes, but Professor, he's trying to stop them, and by them I suppose I don't mean the Head Boy, from doing the relatively harmless thing."

"And what is your role in all of this?"

"Oh, I'm supposed to stop you from stopping Remus from stopping the others or possibly other from doing the thing. The thing that is relatively harmless to everyone involved."

"And I _suppose_ you know nothing about this large Christmas tree blocking the entrance to the library?"

"Oh, absolutely not, Professor. I've never seen that tree before in my life."

My listening is interrupted by Remus Lupin running past me saying, "Think fast, Eva," and throwing a mass of tinsel at me.

I don't know what he's doing, because I obviously wish to be excluded from this event.

I can hear McGonagall muttering some spell on the other side of the tree. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be working.

Remus comes running back and pauses, panting. "Alright, Eva, fancy helping a mate out? Padfoot and Prongs have gone a bit awry today, too much sugar I think, and um, honestly I'm not quite sure what to do here."

"Is that you, Mr. Lupin?" asks McGonagall from the other side of the tree.

"Who's asking?" he responds, wincing as Black almost knocks an Ancient Runes shelf over.

"Minerva McGonagall, your head of house," says McGonagall.

"Oh, right. Well then yes. Hullo Professor."

McGonagall sighs. "Please move aside from the tree, Mr. Lupin, as I am about to blast it into smithereens."

"Righto," says Remus, who then makes a very obnoxious flapping movement with his arms and moves away from the tree.

I, of course, move away too.

All of a sudden the music and the snow stop, and Potter and Black _accio_ the tinsel toward them, where it dissolves into thin air. Fortunately for me, I think, the tinsel Remus dumped into my arms also goes flying towards them, as I'm sure it may look a bit fishy with me holding great bunches of sparkling tinsel as McGonagall storms into the library.

Speaking of, as forewarned, the tree explodes into smithereens and McGonagall storms into the library where she is greeted with great huddles of students milling around in confusion and laughter, and Potter and Black bent over what looks to be homework. Their brooms are nowhere to be seen.

McGonagall looks pained. She massages her brow.

Potter and Black look nonchalant.

"Potter, Black, over here please," says McGonagall.

They amble over, textbooks and parchment clutched in their arms.

"Oh, good timing Professor," says Potter. "I was wanting to ask you a question on the correct pronunciation of the word _lacerta_ in the _lacerta armarium_ incantation. Do you emphasise the la- _cer-_ ta or the la-cer- _ta?_

"It's la- _cer-_ ta, but that's obviously irrelevant right now. Please explain yourselves?"

The Bloody Prat Duo look faux confused at the question.

"Excuse me, what exactly are you referring to, Professor?" asks Black.

McGonagall gives them a stern gaze. "I guess I won't get anything out of you, will I?" She fixes the gaze on me. "Miss Bishop, would you care to let me know what's been going on?"

Oh, Merlin. All I wanted was to study in peace.

Black stares at me and I can tell he's asking me to say nothing. Potter does it too but I can't read his facial movements. He could be telling me he's Mexican for all I know.

Dammit.

Remus just cocks a brow as if to say 'your call' when I look at him for support.

Obviously I don't want to be in this position. Firstly, I don't want to let McGonagall down. Secondly, I don't want to be _that person._ Thirdly, I could hold this moment over both of their heads and use it for further reference.

"Sorry, Professor, I was studying and didn't see anything."

Black winks at me.

I'll use this moment to torture him later.

McGonagall closes her eyes and lets out a heavy sigh. "I don't get paid nearly enough for this." She gives us all one last piercing glance and leaves the Library.

The boys all high-five.

"You really did us a solid there, Bishop," grins Potter after he finishes his celebrating.

"Yeah, we owe you," Black adds.

"Good. I'll accept payment in the form of zero disruption for the remainder of the year so that I don't fail my NEWTs and end up as big of a disappointment as all of you are."

Peter starts cackling as Potter, Black and Remus all clutch their chests dramatically and fall to the ground. In sync. As if they've been practising.

"My heart, Evelyn, it's breaking in two!" wails Black.

"Good."

Remus stretches one hand toward the sky. "I've never been so hurt in all of my life!"

I really hope he's joking.

"I doubt I shall ever recover!" Potter stands up and then falls over again.

"You do realise this is the opposite of letting me study?"

Remus jumps to his feet, "Right lads, its time to bounce. To the secret lair!"

They all jump to their feet and follow after Remus. I see Mark Abery smile encouragingly at me across the room.

Good. I really need encouragement right now. Where are Lily and Lottie when you need them?

 **Tuesday**

 **October 27, 1977**

 **Muggle Studies**

Right now I'm in Muggle Studies with Remus, working on our partner project. We are supposed to be researching what tools muggles have created that replica spells used by witches and wizards. However, I'm not really concentrating.

I spent all of last night thinking about what I was going to say to Remus today because I've found that in recent times I've been getting awfully tongue tied around him. On Friday I spent all of DADA working up in my head what I was going to say to him in Muggle Studies, but then he had to go to the hospital wing for something and I didn't even get to speak to him for the rest of the day so all of the stress wasn't even worth it.

And I would like to clarify that _yes,_ I am aware that Remus is currently 'dating' Dorcas, but honestly I don't really see that going anywhere so I'm just anticipating the inevitable downfall of it.

In other words, I'm pretending that my feelings for Remus are going somewhere positive instead of eventual heartbreak.

But, of course, I never said that, because Remus and I are destined to be together.

I mean, on Monday during Quidditch practice Remus came and watched Potter brutalise us all for "the sake of Gryffindor, McGonagall, and the thousands of people depending on us to win the forthcoming match against Slytherin." Remus told me that I did an "excellent job" and that if Potter asks, he didn't tell me this, but he thought that I should have been made Quidditch Captain.

I think that speaks for itself.

It totally doesn't matter that I accidentally saw Remus and Dorcas snogging behind the broom shed afterwards.

The point being, this has been a long-winded explanation of _why I cannot concentrate right now._

"Why can't you concentrate right now?" asked Remus, peering over at my diary (which naturally I immediately moved out of his view).

MERLIN ON A STICK!

"What did you just read?" I practically shrieked in his face.

Remus looked alarmed, "Just the last bit about not being able to concentrate."

"Oh, Merlin, that's lucky."

"Why? What were you writing about?"

I stared blankly at him.

"Eva?"

"Oh, nothing of importance."

"Right," said Remus, raising an eyebrow.

"Right," I agreed.

"Speaking of not concentrating, we should get back to this assignment. Diary down."

 **Friday**

 **October 30, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

Can I just say that I for one am getting bloody tired of all these Slytherins starting arguments when I'm just trying to live my life as best I can with as little confrontation as possible.

I mean sure, Potter and Black always have disagreements with them but I couldn't care less, so it's getting really annoying that they're bugging me and my friends.

For example, earlier today I was walking back to the Common Room after a late-night Divination class with Lily, Lottie and Peter, when we were accosted by Avery and his goons, Snape and Nott.

"If it isn't Gryffindor's two biggest dirtslags, a useless imbecile, and, well..." Avery looked at Lottie and screwed up his face, "I think your whole... image... speaks for itself."

"Excuse me?" asked Lily, drawing her wand.

Peter edged closer to Lottie who was looking quite red in the face.

"You can't begrudge me for making an observation, Evans. It's not a big secret that you and Potter are sleeping together now, is it?" Avery twirled his wand between his fingers and tilted his head to the side with a cocky half-smile.

"What's it to you?" I asked. "Disappointed the only thing that would sleep with you is a troll, and even then you'd have to drink polyjuice potion before it would even look at you?

Lily laughed.

Avery glowered.

"Better a troll than an arrogant, self-centred idiot whose only real skill is making countless women believe they're worth more than a couple of knuts he found in the gutter," Snape responded, classy as always.

Avery laughed.

Lily glowered.

"What did you just say to me, Snivellus?"

"I didn't think you'd sink so low, Evans," said Snape with barely concealed contempt.

"No, she did that by acknowledging your slimy face in the first place," I interjected.

"Shut up, Bishop. This, like everything, isn't about you," sneered Avery.

Lily fumed silently next to me. Unfortunately, it seemed as if Snivellus had actually upset her.

"It's a pity Potter won't be able to protect you when the Dark Lord finally weeds this school of mudbloods," Nott grinned.

Right. That's enough of this. _"Penolyglin,"_ I pointed my wand at Avery, whose knees reversed to the back of his legs. He looked down in horror.

Nott quickly fired back with an _expulso_ which narrowly missed me and hit a statue of some goblin lord, the impact throwing Peter against a wall. Lottie quickly rushed to see if he was okay.

Snape shot a spell, _sectumsempra_ I think, at me, but I blocked it with _protego,_ and Lily fired back with a bat-bogey hex which hit Nott, incapacitating him at least for a little while.

Snape and Lily reared their wands again, pointing them at each other, but before either one of them could fire we were interrupted with a blast of blue light that froze us all in place, and Dumbledore's voice yelling, "Enough!"

We all slowly gained control of our movements and Dumbledore stopped the bats from attacking Nott and fixed Avery's knees around the right way. "Miss Ansen, please take Mr Pettigrew to see Madam Pomfrey," Dumbledore said, peering with concern at the blood on the wall.

"As for the rest of you, would anyone care to explain what's going on?"

"We were just walking through the hallway when Bishop and Evans brutally attacked us!" Avery claimed, rubbing his sore knees.

"That's utter toss, Professor," shouted Lily, glaring at the Slytherins. "We were just trying to walk back to our Common Room when we were accosted by them saying that Voldemort was going to eliminate all of us muggleborns at Hogwarts and so we _had_ to protect ourselves. Besides, we were only using hexes, and Nott fired an _expulso_ at Eva, which could have killed her!"

"Hence the statue," Dumbledore paused, as if considering his options.

"Nott, Avery, please also report to Madam Pomfrey to make sure no lasting damage has been performed to your bodies, and also report to Filch each night at 8 o'clock for the next two weeks for your detentions. There will also be fifty points taken from Slytherin."

"What!" shouted Avery, "what about them?"

"And fifty points from Gryffindor as well," said Dumbledore. "Now off to Pomfrey you go. Evans, Bishop, my office please."

His office? Merlin, we were in a load of dung. Lily looked at me worriedly.

We trailed after Dumbledore, glaring at the Slytherins as we passed them.

Nott grinned eerily.

He seems to be a very disturbed person.

Dumbledore led us down corridors and through tapestries until we were faced with a large and ugly stone gargoyle. "Pepper imps," said Dumbledore, and the gargoyle opened to reveal a staircase which Lily and I followed Dumbledore up until we reached, presumably, his office.

"Please sit down, ladies," Dumbledore gestured to two chairs in front of a large desk. The room was filled with portraits of what looked to be previous headmasters. Lily and I glanced at each other nervously.

What was going on?

"Now I am sure the both of you are wondering why I've brought you here, but fret not, neither of you are in trouble."

I heaved a sigh of relief. I'd had enough detentions to last a lifetime.

"I wonder if you could tell me more about your confrontation with your Slytherin peers earlier."

"I'm sorry, Sir, but why?" queried Lily.

"I merely wish to gain a deeper understanding of the tensions growing between the students of Hogwarts, especially in such an... uncertain time. You mentioned that they talked about Lord Voldemort and his plans?"

"Well not his plans as such," said Lily, "just that he would come to Hogwarts and, I think, 'weed this school' of muggleborns."

"Do you have any added insight into this observation, Miss Bishop?"

"Uh, not really Sir, just that the Slytherins have been particularly argumentative lately, and after the whole thing with Bulstrode's poor attempt at stealing the ring and all..."

I had forgotten we weren't supposed to know about that.

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "Ahh, yes, the ring. I'll not ask how you know about that, and I suspect you two know about a fair few things that happen in this castle."

"Is that all, Professor?" Lily asked, "you're not going to give us detentions, are you?"

"I'll not be giving them tonight, no, but I must ask you to do one thing for me."

We nodded.

"If you hear anything, see anything, anything that looks at all... well, unusual, please let someone, perhaps your head of house or myself, know about it. Anything at all."

We nodded again.

"That is all, ladies. You may go check on Miss Ansen and Mr Pettigrew before heading to your common room, and if anyone asks, tell them I said you may. Goodnight to you both."

"Thank you, Professor," said Lily, smiling as we left his office.

"Yes, and um, sweet dreams to you too," I added.

I think I heard Dumbledore chuckle as we went down the staircase.

"Now _that_ was weird," said Lily as we walked toward the hospital wing. "Something's happening, and we're going to find out what it is. Dumbledore doesn't normally just ask us for help. Although it's rather exciting. I've always wondered what it would be like to be a spy."

"Not quite sure that's what Dumbledore was asking," I said.

"Potato potahto," replied Lily. "I hope Peter's alright, that gash looked nasty."

"Speaking of being alright, how're you?"

Lily looked apprehensive, "Alright, I suppose. I just, no, never mind."

"No, tell me. What is it?"

"I guess I thought Snape was better than that. I mean I knew he was a Slytherin, and he can be cruel sometimes, but we were friends once. I thought that counted for something, and I feel like a bit of a fool."

"Well he doesn't know what he's talking about, for one thing, because Potter obviously cares about you a lot, so you can ignore what he said. And that's another thing. If he's going to be a cruel git then it's a good thing you've found out now so that you can spend more time with your true friends who love you and care about you. He's the fool, not you, Lils."

"Thanks, Eve... You know you really are a good friend. I'm lucky to have you."

"We can tell our grandkids about this one day."

Lily laughed, "Ahh yes, our grandkids will love hearing our stories of all of the trouble we made at Hogwarts."

"Yeah, we can tell them about the time we hexed Potter so that his toenails wouldn't stop growing."

"And we can tell them all the best places to hide from Filch."

"If he's still alive, Merlin forbid."

"Oh, there's the Hospital Wing. I hope Lottie and Peter are alright. And speaking of, Lottie and Peter? When's that going to happen, right?" Lily gestured her eyebrows rather suggestively.

"Honestly I thought she had a thing for Mark Abery, but turns out he's after Julie, so... who knows?"

"I thought Mark was dating that Louise girl?"

"Apparently not."

"Eva, Lily, are you guys alright?" asked Lottie who rushed over to us as soon as we walked through the doorway.

"Yeah, we're fine, how's Pete?"

"He's alright, he just had a nasty gash to the head. Pomfrey's healed it all up and given him some pepper-up so he'll be better by the morning. Nott and Avery popped in but they didn't stay for long. Pomfrey sent them scathing looks and a healing potion and then sent them on their way, thank goodness. I didn't like the looks they were giving me."

"Well we're all alright now," smiled Lily. "And we've got each other, and they've got nothing at best, except sore knees. By the way, I'll need to grab that spell from you later, Eva, but for now... group hug?"

So now Lily's off to see Potter and let the boys know about what happened, and Lottie's in bed asleep, and I'm writing this.

And now it's bedtime.

 _ **AN: HEY GUYS! Can I just say a big 'hello' and 'welcome to all of my new readers, because there's an awful great lot of you! I hope you've enjoyed reading this story/chapter as much as I've enjoyed writing it!**_

 _ **Mostly, I'd like to say a massive thank you to hepburnettes and to beautlies for choosing Black as one of their recommended stories - I appreciate it more than you could ever know.**_

 _ **I'd also like to thank everyone for voting and commenting because I love hearing your reactions to the events of the stories because honestly mine are the same and Eva is whacko and sometimes I want to hit her so I'm glad the rest of you do too!**_

 _ **The header today is Alexis Bledel as Eva staring doe-eyed at Remus and agreeing to literally everything that he says to her.**_

 _ **OXO**_


	18. Unnecessary Almost-Nudity

**Sunday**

 **November 2, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

Honestly, how could I forget?

You'd think I would remember after the years of pestering, and now that I think about it I'm not really sure why I'm annoyed I'd forgotten.

Tomorrow is Black's birthday and I bloody forgot about it.

In my defence, he normally has a habit of bugging me about it for a couple of weeks beforehand and as I'm sure I've mentioned, he hasn't really been talking to me lately.

Lily went off to see Potter earlier today for some illicit rendezvous or whatever you'd like to refer to it as, and she came back slightly stressed because apparently Potter's planning a massive party tomorrow night.

"The thing is," she said, "I want to go to support him because I think that's something I'm supposed to do now as his... well... anyway, but we have _so much homework._ What was that Charms assignment again? Doesn't matter. I'm too stressed to think about it."

Not really sure why she's so stressed, the assignment wasn't really that difficult, and I finished it three days ago.

She ended up deciding to spend the day in the library with Lottie who has a History of Magic assignment to do. I finished my Ancient Runes essay before dinner and thankfully my next assignment isn't due for another five days so I've decided to give myself a bit of a rest.

And by rest I mean stressing over this whole birthday situation.

To reiterate, I don't actually care that it's his birthday, but I do care that I am socially obligated to get him a gift, and aside from a new brain, an 'I Love Terrorising People' tee shirt or a gallon of firewhiskey, I'm drawing a blank.

Ooh, Marley and Alice have just come up, I'll ask them.

"Alice, Marley, I need your assistance."

"You do?" Marley raises an eyebrow. "With what?"

"I don't know what to get Black for his birthday."

Marley rolls her eyes. "Just give him a snog, he'll appreciate it more than anything else you could get him."

Alice laughs, grabbing her scarf and heading out the door again. Marley winks at me and follows behind her.

Well that was unhelpful.

If he would just talk to me I feel like I would be better at solving this problem. Do you know how much I hate small talk? Ooh, maybe this is his new way of annoying me - frustrating me to death with small talk! Well it's working, dammit.

I'm going to go for a walk to clear my head.

 **Sunday**

 **November 2, 1977**

 **The Black Lake**

I would just like to clarify, that despite what anyone else may suggest, that even though I was following him around the castle, it was only because I thought that it might inspire me and help me come up with a good birthday gift for him. It's not like I set out to do it or anything, it just sort of... happened.

I was walking down toward the kitchens when I spotted Black out of the corner of my eye, ducking behind a tapestry in front of me. Naturally I was suspicious so I followed him for a good few minutes, even when he made sudden changes in direction that threw me off balance a bit.

After about five minutes of this he slowly came to a stop. I ducked behind a statue.

"Is there a specific reason that you've been following me around, Evelyn?" he asked.

I stayed behind the statue.

"I would like to point out that despite what you think, your stealth skills are significantly below par. I noticed you literally as soon as you started following me."

I reluctantly moved out from behind the statue.

He raised an eyebrow.

"It was an accident."

"You accidentally started following me?"

"...Yes?"

"You can't just accidentally start following someone around, you know. Especially when they're making specific turns to get you lost, so you can't say it was a coincidence."

"Well, what I meant is that I didn't mean to just start following you, I did it on accident."

"But you did follow me, which meant that you did mean to."

"Well, yes, but-"

"I knew it!" he grinned. "I knew you were obsessed with me!"

What?

"Good chat, Evelyn."

"I, uh-"

"If that's all, I'll be off then? I've gone a fair bit out of my way, you see. One of my crazy stalkers just would not give up and I had to try and throw them off but _obviously_ I failed!"

"I'm not-"

"Goodbye, Evelyn. Have a lovely day!"

He ducked through the doorway next to him.

A ghost floating past told me to close my mouth because apparently it wasn't very ladylike.

So now I'm sitting at the edge of the forest near the Black Lake trying to find some inspiration and gather my thoughts.

I wasn't stalking him, per say, but, well, I was following him. It seems a bit silly now that I think about it. Oh well, hopefully there's been no harm done. Plus it didn't even help me come up with a present idea.

Honestly, I don't really think I should be wasting my time trying to think of a present for some _boy_ that I _don't even like._ Surely I have much better things to do with my time, like see what Remus-

Remus? What is he doing here?

I just saw Remus running through the forest with- is that a stag?

James bloody Potter.

Who knows what _they're_ up to.

Oh look, it's Sirius Black walking down the hill. Am I interrupting some sort of secret Marauder rendezvous? Dammit, if I move he'll see me. I do not want to talk to him right now, especially after the whole 'stalking' incident of approximately 10 minutes ago.

There's Remus and stag-Potter again. I wonder why Remus isn't in his animagus form. I'm pretty sure it's a wolf, but I've never actually seen it.

"Oi, Padfoot, why're you so late?" Remus calls when Black reaches the edge of the forest.

"Evelyn Bishop was stalking me, would you believe it?" he replies, grinning.

"That I would not believe," Remus responds, shaking his head. "Now come on, it's getting late."

"Alright, hold your horses Moony." Black pulls a piece of parchment from his paper and mutters something. Oh Merlin, I can only assume it's that map of his.

I really hope he's looking for someone else and doesn't see me.

He furrows his brows, causing Remus to ask, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Well, not really, but all will become clear rather soon. The coast is clear, so we can go."

"Right, well I didn't understand half of that, but it's almost dark so come on."

Black nods in agreement and then all of a sudden takes off his shirt.

It kind of makes me understand why he has such a large following of girls, but at the same time, I'm completely and utterly horrified.

Oh no, does he need to strip naked to turn into his animagus form? Oh golly, he must have to. I'm going to shut my eyes because I can't move from behind this tree or they'll _definitely_ know I'm here.

"Mate, what on earth are you doing?" asks Remus. "Put your top back on."

"Alas, darling Moony, I need to take off all of my clothes to transform to my animagus form."

Oh Merlin.

"What? Shut up, Sirius and, no- stop, don't take your pants off, no one wants to see that."

I hear a rustling sound and the voice of James Potter says, "Pad, mate, come on, what are you doing?"

I risk a peek and am thankful to see that Potter is fully clothed. Oh, Merlin, what if he wasn't? I hadn't considered that.

"Apologies lads, I just wanted to put on a show for our audience." Black, thankfully with pants on, holds up the map.

Wait, audience?

Potter stares at the map and then grins, fixing his beady little eyes on me. "Bishop! How lovely to see you!"

Fiddlesticks.

I reluctantly step out from behind the tree I am apparently unsuccessfully hiding behind.

Remus looks surprised. "Eva? What are you doing here?"

"Well I was just sitting here writing and then all of you lot came by and I didn't want to intrude, so..."

"...So you just stayed and watched Sirius getting undressed?" asks Potter.

"I closed my eyes once I realised what was going on. I didn't want to risk going blind."

Black laughs, folding up the map. "Well this has been fun, I should probably put my shirt back on because Remus looks slightly frustrated, I mean it is his time of the month after all."

Remus glares at Black and then grimaces in my direction. "Sorry about that Eva. We've really got to go now though."

Black finishes getting clothed and then suddenly changes into a dog. Whoah. That was weird.

Dog-Black runs into the forest.

"Right, well, bye," says Potter, who runs after Black, transforming into a stag mid-jump. Remus follows after them, waving goodbye.

I'm not going to lie, I am very confused by this whole encounter and I wish that it had never happened.

Damn Black and his damn decisions.

It's dark now so I'm going to head back inside.

 **Monday**

 **November 3, 1977**

 **Potions**

I'm currently in Potions class and Black seems to be back to his normal self. I'm assuming it's because of his birthday.

Speaking of, my day has already been interrupted three times because of said birthday.

Firstly, all of the food in the breakfast hall was pancakes and bacon. There were zero other options. I saw McGonagall raise her eyebrows when she came in but she didn't say anything or do anything to fix the breakfast situation. I really wanted waffles.

Secondly, many of the statues have been charmed to say "Have you said 'happy birthday' to Sirius Black?" as you pass them, which is getting rather annoying. I must say, these boys certainly don't do anything by halves.

Thirdly, Lottie won't shut up about the party tonight. _Yes, Lottie, I understand that you like parties, no, that you live and breathe parties._ No, I am not excited about it, and would rather get through _one day_ without mention of the birthday boy. Alas, I know it is impossible.

On the up side, having Black back to his normal annoying self is better than Black's non-talkative self.

On the down side, he keeps bringing up the whole 'stalking' incident, like it was only that _one time!_ Just take a chill pill or something. Some calming draught perhaps.

And despite what he says, I am obviously not obsessed with him.

Obviously. Not. Obsessed.

 **Monday**

 **November 3, 1977**

 **Ancient Runes**

I am absolutely FED UP with Isadora James!

It sometimes feels like her life's mission is somehow to outsmart me in everything I do, which is completely and utterly ridiculous in my opinion.

Just because she did better on the Ancient Runes essay doesn't mean she has to be all smug about it.

Just because I'm a Gryffindor doesn't mean I can't be hard-working and dedicated to my studies which I very obviously am (aside from writing this down in my diary whilst Professor Mercier-Roussel is speaking).

We were given our essays back and I received an 'E' which isn't terrible, but Isadora James (who unfortunately sits at the desk on my left) flashed a smile and her 'O' at me, saying, "It's a pity all of that Gryffindor bravado doesn't come into very much use aside from viciously insulting people and ruining hopes and dreams. Maybe with a bit more Hufflepuff hard-work and dedication you might get a good grade too!"

Um, rude?

Also I don't viciously insult people and ruin hopes and dreams. I was trying to do Aislin a favour!

I chose to take the high Gryffindor road and ignore her.

This was however partly because Lily whispered to me that she knew how to sneak her a potion that would make her hair turn green.

Hufflepuff dedication and hard-work pales in comparison to Gryffindor daring and nerve, just saying.

Anyway, Aislin is currently shooting me death stares and I'm doing a great job of ignoring them. Perhaps I should give her a thumbs up so she knows that I've noticed her. Maybe I should give her some green hair potion too. Hopefully that way she'll be less of a wet sock.

This day is really not getting any better.

 **Monday**

 **November 3, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

I know I love Lily and all, but sometimes I feel like she gets a bit _too_ worried about things, you know?

"Eva, I need help, I'm going crazy!" she wailed, flopping onto my bed where I was trying to write this down.

"Potter asked me to help him decorate and like the fool I am I _agreed_ and now I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Where can I find tinsel on short notice? Do I even need tinsel? Do you use tinsel at birthday parties or is that just Christmas. I don't know!"

"I'm trying to write, Lily," I said.

Lily chose to ignore me. "I didn't even mean to agree to help, you know how I have my charms assignment and don't have bloody time to do anything else! We were just talking and then Potter mentioned he was going to have the party on the roof! The roof, can you believe it?"

I shook my head.

"I know," Lily continued, "and then I said that you can't have a party on the roof because one, there's too many roofs and two, they're all bloody steeper than Mount Everest and three, how would you get there in the first place! So he asked me what I would suggest and I said it's not _my_ party and then he said well if I'm not going to help with this could I at least help with decorations because now he has to rethink the whole decoration scheme and everything and like the complete and utter fool that I am, I said yes."

Lily finally took a breath, quite red in the face.

"And if it's not fairly obvious already, I have no idea what to do! Why do you think I let him take the reigns for your birthday? Merlin, Eva, I need help."

"What about Lottie, can't she help?"

"She's got her Care of Magical Creatures to do, remember? Besides, you finished all your assignments so you can't be too busy."

Merlin, I don't know how to plan decorations for a party, let alone the party of my nem- of Black! What did she expect me to do?

"I could write your charms essay for you instead?" I offered.

"No, Flitwick will know that you did it the second he reads it. Your connection is far too psychic. You need to help me with the party or James might never speak to me again!"

I don't know if you've ever been caught in a situation where you need to help plan a party for someone that you don't actually like in order to help save the relationship of your best friend that you weren't actually super keen on in the first place, but I have, and I can't say it's a particularly fun situation to be in.

Unfortunately, I eventually agreed to her obscene request, upon which she dropped to the floor and thanked me profusely before leaving the room to go do her Charms assignment.

Alas, alack.

Now I'm trying to think of decorations for this stupid party. Lions? Scarlet and gold? Tinsel? Dog paraphernalia?

Dammit, Lily.

 **Tuesday**

 **November 4, 1977**

 **The Library**

There is an incomplete list of obscenities that I keep in a pocket in my trunk for occasions where I need to scream rude things into the wind to try and blow off some steam.

Last night was one of those occasions, if you hadn't already guessed.

The evening started out relatively alright. I successfully dressed myself after Quidditch practice (which has now been increased to three times a week in preparation for next weekend's game) and went to see how Lily had gone with all my decoration ideas.

Firstly, lets discuss the party itself.

James bloody Potter somehow got the idea into his head that because it was Black's birthday instead of having a nice gathering in the Gryffindor Tower it needed to have an element of risk. Potter's idea of _risk_ basically means a roaming birthday party. And by roaming, that means that Peter spends the night staring at the map on lookout and as soon as anyone that's not invited to the party comes near, we quickly pack up and move on to the next location.

Lily's job was to collect the decorations each time and put them up at the next spot, and can I just say that the dog's heads that spat out different Honeydukes sweets were an absolute hit. I had to just grin and bear it when Black and Potter showered Lily with compliments for her handiwork. Just another day in the life of a good friend.

Besides, I don't need Black's affirmation.

But anyway, the party started off alright. There were lots of people that came and went throughout the night, it wasn't really like a Gryffindor thing or anything.

At one point when we were outside Greenhouse Three I was talking to Marley who was reminiscing about the last party we went to. That's right, you remember the one. She started talking about Cassiopeia Black, apparently she got a letter from her, which was exciting. She told me Cassie is safe in Belgium right now; she had to leave France because it was no longer safe for her - the Black family has roots in france and is deep into dark magic and allied closely to Voldemort, apparently. Marley says she's hoping to go visit her over the Christmas holidays.

"You don't happen to know anyone in Belgium do you?" Marley asked. "I don't think my parents would let me go over alone, especially with everything that's going on at the moment. Did you hear? They found a family of muggles dead last week with the mark over their house!"

"What?" I asked. I don't read the Daily Prophet very often.

"I know, Voldemort's getting more and more active. Apparently Josie Edwards went missing a couple of weeks ago too. It's getting crazy out there."

"I'm glad we're at Hogwarts. No way will anyone get past Dumbledore."

"That's true, but there's still the Slytherins. Half of their families are rumoured to be supporters, and you know what Avery and his lot are like."

"Now that doesn't sound like party talk," Black interrupted, stumbling over his feet. "I'm not drunk enough to hear this sort of negativity, so close your mouths, ladies. Unless, of course," he winked at me, "you would like to use them for better purposes."

"You're disgusting, Black." Marley said, pushing him an arm's length away.

"I wasn't even talking to you, Marls, give it a rest," he groaned. "It's my birthday! I'm just trying to live a little!"

"Can you live a little except over there?" I asked, pointing to where Potter and Lily were dancing the funky chicken.

"No," he wailed, "I can't do those silly muggle dances. My hips don't move that way. And now that you've mentioned it, Evelyn, can I demonstrate how my hips do work, for you?"

"Absolutely not, Black. Go pester some other innocent."

"Fine," he said, looking annoyingly impish.

He walked to the greenhouse door where Aislin was standing with Cillian and Isadora, bowed dramatically and asked, "Darling Aislin, would you have this dance?"

She blushed stupidly and said, "Okay, if you're asking," and it wasn't two minutes into the dance before they were snogging, fairly obnoxiously.

Marley groaned. "Could he maybe just for one second _stop_ being such a -." (Due to the nature of the word used here I have opted to cut it out of my diary, thank you very much).

"It's too ingrained in his system, I think," I said staring at him and Aislin. "Doesn't he realise this is making everyone uncomfortable? I feel slightly nauseous, I have to admit."

Marley raised an eyebrow. "I mean sure, Eva, it's not _great,_ but I definitely don't feel sick about it."

"Well I certainly do."

"I wonder why," Marley smirked, looking at me sideways.

"Because it's disgusting? There are children here!" I gestured to the lone fourth year that was loitering near the edge of the party.

"Mm, and that's the only reason?"

"Of course, what other reason would there be?"

Marley raised an eyebrow.

I stared blankly at her.

"Seriously, Eva?"

"What?"

"Merlin, how do you even function on a day to day basis?"

"Perfectly fine, thank you," I said. "You're so confusing."

" _I'm_ confusing."

"Yes. Now I'm going over to find Lottie because I can't stand the sight of Black's stupid face."

Unfortunately, immediately after saying that Peter ran around letting everyone know that Filch was on his way and we had to skedaddle immediately. Thus, we skedaddled to an unused Transfiguration classroom on the fourth floor.

I have to admit I was pretty impressed with everyone because at that point in the night most people were absolutely sloshed off their face and yet we managed to move silently as a group to the next location.

I did, however, find Lottie and chat with her for a bit. She was helping Peter keep lookout.

Now, you might think that was _enough_ drama for the night, and although that was the real hair-pulling horror that I faced as an innocent Charms enthusiast, the night was not over yet.

I had spent the night furiously avoiding Remus and Dorcas who were probably having a jolly time together, but at about one o'clock (we had moved to the Lower Courtyard at this point) I finally saw them, and I must say, I wasn't exactly upset about it.

I had hidden behind some foliage because Black and Hollie Beckham were now snogging, much to Aislin's consternation, and so it's not like I was trying to, but I couldn't help but overhear Remus and Dorcas' conversation.

"I just don't understand why you won't tell me," Dorcas said, looking frustrated.

"I can't," said Remus. "I just, I just can't."

"Well if you can't tell me whatever is going on then I don't know if I can trust you!" Dorcas said, throwing her hands in the air. "You weren't _anywhere_ last night and I needed you but you apparently had something better to do and now you won't tell me what it is?"

"I already told you, I can't tell you, so you're going to have to trust me!"

"Well I can't, Remus. If I don't know who you are then I don't know if I can rely on you."

"Well," said Remus quietly. "If you feel that way there's nothing I can do to stop you."

"I don't _want_ to feel this way," Dorcas implored, "but you're not giving me much of a choice."

"You always have a choice, Dorcas, you just choose whether you want to make the right one or the easy one."

"Seriously?" Dorcas glared at Remus.

"I've told you what I can, and so the ball's in your court now. Let me know if you want to to take this relationship seriously, because if not, then I don't know if I can do this."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just... Just do your thinking, Dorc, and let me know where you want to go from here," Remus finished, turning around and walking off to where Potter and Lily were laughing.

Dorcas turned and walked in the other direction.

I stayed hidden in the bushes.

I think the party ended about a 1/2 hour later. People started to remember they had class in the morning.

I left straight after Remus and Dorcas' little chat. I figured I had enough to mull over and I wasn't particularly enjoying the whole party atmosphere.

Black gave me a wave as I left, even though he was suctioned to some Ravenclaw.

Git.

He didn't deserve a present anyway.

 _ **AN: Wowzers, a couple of developments in that chapter, eh? Not gonna lie, I reckon Eva's feeling a bit happier than "not exactly upset" about Remus and Dorcas' conversation... And speaking of, if anyone's interested, the official ship names are: #bleva #reva, #dorcmus and obviously #jily... but if you guys have any particular hankering for some other couple then let me know in the comments if you have a ship name ready to go!**_

 _ **Thank you so much for reading this chapter, please vote and comment to let me know what you think!**_

 _ **P.S. The GIF today is the beautiful Ben Barnes as the beautiful Black because it's his birthday and he deserves it.**_


	19. Quidditch Commences

**Saturday**

 **November 15, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

Not entirely sure if I've mentioned it previously, but James Potter is a bloody menace _._

I just need to write this down for clarity of mind, but I'm really struggling to even think straight due to exhaustion.

For the past two weeks we have had a total of ten Quidditch practices, half of them at the crack of bloody dawn, and even then we only had ten practices because the Slytherins decided that they were going to try and practice during all the times we practice, so we had to cancel a few due to rescheduling.

I'm sitting in the Great Hall right now, trying my best to eat a well-rounded breakfast for the match today, but Marley is on my left staring into space because she's probably asleep except with her eyes open, and Martin-George McGonagall is chattering about some utter codswallop that _nobody bloody cares about_ because we have our first Quidditch match of the season today.

I remember when I was nine my mother went through breathing exercises with me because I was stressed about a spelling test I had (on a side note, what's up with Hogwarts not teaching you how to properly speak the language of your country, right?) but for some reason I'm completely blanking on them right now and if there was ever a time to remember them, it would be now.

Oh no, here comes Potter.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Potter says, sitting across from us on the table, "today is the day we have been training for, and we are going to smash those Slytherin skulls into the dirt and turn them into glue and then feed that glue to their grieving families as we wave our Quidditch trophy over their heads."

"Excuse me?" asks Marley, suddenly very awake. "That's... that's so incredibly disturbing, James."

"Thank you Marlene," says Potter, grinning from ear to ear. "In other words, we have been training and training for this and I have complete faith in each and every one of you to play the best bloody game that Gryffindor has ever seen, and annihilate those Slytherins in the process. Good work team. Good chat. Finish your food, let's go.

Despite that speech being honestly awful, it does feel kind of exhilarating to be given a pep talk, so I'm going to put this away and go get ready to destroy... well, win a Quidditch match.

Wish me luck!

 **Saturday**

 **November 15, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

Suffice to say, we did _not_ turn the Slytherins into glue. Poor Thom Mickle almost did become glue, however, after Frieda Parkinson decided Thom's head looked more like the snitch than the snitch itself.

He managed to get to the snitch before she did anyhow, so I'm sure when he gets out of the hospital wing he'll be feeling much better.

Can I just say, Lily and Lottie truly are great friends. They made signs, big red and gold ones with Marley and Potter's and my names on them. There's something awfully encouraging about trying to fight for your life in a Quidditch match and then seeing 'BISHOP WILL BEAT YOU' flashing in the midst of the crowd. The slightly disconcerting aspect of this whole thing was seeing Lily swap posters with Black at some point during the match, and having to look at his face every time I needed encouragement. What an odd paradox I found myself in.

The game itself was pretty tricky to say the least. The Slytherins were not there to play fair, and I think there was a Hogwarts record amount of fouls played during the game (although I have to admit that us Gryffindors were the perpetrators of just a _few_ of them). Sean Kayne and Ervyn Avery did an excellent job of using their beater's bats on Meathead Morris and not the actual bludgers, but true to his name, he was not even slightly fazed.

Also, more importantly, I scored more goals than Potter did. Luckily for Gryffindor, it was a fair amount, because our keeper's performance wasn't particularly, well, good,and so despite lack of any real skill, the Slytherins were able to score a bit more than we wanted them to.

Dorcas Meadowes, what were you doing?

The whole match her face was scrunched up into this awful scowl, and she seemed far too upset about something to actually focus on the game. Although now that I think about it I haven't really seen her and Remus together since their argument of a couple of weeks ago, so that may be a contributing factor. She's normally quite switched on during Quidditch. She's the best keeper we've had in over twenty years, but did she show that today? No. She did not.

Oh, did I forget to mention? We won. Morwenna Lestrange was maybe ten seconds off evening out the score when Thom caught the snitch. So we won by 160 points. Pretty good if I don't say so myself. It's always a good sign winning the first match if you have plans to win the Quidditch cup.

There's currently a celebration going on downstairs that I will join eventually, but I'm giving everyone time to congratulate Potter on his game before I join the party and truly steal the show. I want him to enjoy at least some of the glory, I'm not a terrible person.

Finally, I'd just like to say how happy I am that we won Quidditch. Although I still feel quite disgruntled over not being made captain, Quidditch is just something that I just really love, you know? Not even Potter can ruin it for me with his idiocy and captain-ness. Quidditch is just Quidditch.

 **Saturday**

 **November 15, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

In all honesty, I do feel as though the Gryffindors should change their house characteristics to include 'excellent at throwing parties' because, boy, the Gryffindors sure are good at throwing parties.

This, of course, is a mostly redundant point because as previously stated: I do not like parties. Quidditch parties, however, are slightly different because everyone's on a post-win high and wants to celebrate together and that mostly includes me because I am also on a post-win high.

I know Lily enjoyed herself at least because she and Potter spent half the time snogging in some corner (I'm assuming they've moved past the 'it's a secret' phase of their relationship). It was disgusting, to say the least.

At one point Julie Ansen came up to me and asked if I'd seen Lottie, which I hadn't, and then proceeded to tell me in a very quiet voice that Mark Abery had just asked her out and she didn't want to date him but she didn't know how to say no.

Poor Mark. He's a good kid. Poor Julie. She's a better kid. Poor Louise. She's a somewhat likeable kid. All round, at least one person, if not all three, are going to get upset about this.

Also- poor me! I don't want to be stuck with the problems of these children!

The highlight of the party, unfortunately, was a group of Gryffindors clambering through the portrait hole and shouting loudly that Hestia Morris, Emmett Davis and Octavius Nubbs had been attacked by a group of Sixth and Seventh year Slytherins and were in the Hospital Wing, which sent Black and Potter into a bit of a tizzy. They rushed out of the Common Room, a bit too sloshed on butterbeer and firewhiskey for my liking, to mixed reactions of horror and cheers.

They returned twenty minutes later, looking fairly worse for the wear (Black had an eponymous eye and was limping, and Potter was sporting a nice gash on his cheek), but the triumphant gleam in their eyes showed that they probably didn't care too much about their injuries.

"We hath vanquished thy enemy!" cried Potter upon re-entering the Common Room to a loud chorus of cheers and raised glasses.

"T'was a fight to the death, a most noble death by way of fisticuffs!" Black added, raising his fists into the air.

"We only survived by the grit in our souls and the skin of our bones!" Potter said, not really making any sense.

"Huzzah!" Black yelled at last, the word echoed by the onlooking Gryffindors.

The Bloody Prat Duo then rejoined the party and I lost sight of them until Black popped up behind me, causing me to exclaim something that seemed to be a cross between a squawk and a shriek. Black started laughing and then immediately doubled over and winced, putting an end to my embarrassment fairly quickly.

"You just had to go get yourself into a fight, didn't you, Black," I said, attempting to regain my composure.

Black leaned against the wall beside us, poking gingerly at his knee. "Don't you mean to say, you just had to go and avenge the defenceless twelve year-old children who were viciously attacked for no reason, didn't you, Black?"

"Well you didn't have to fight them with your body, that's all," I grumbled. "We learn magic for a reason."

Black raised an eyebrow. "You're never going to admit that I did a good thing, are you."

It was a statement, not a question.

"I just think that maybe you should make more well thought out decisions, that's all."

"I try and I try, and yet, still nothing. You're always going to hate me, aren't you."

Again, a statement.

"I don't hate you, Black, I just find you-"

"Incredibly attractive?" Black grinned, flicking his hair back.

"You know what, I actually do-"

"Sorry, Evelyn. That was uncalled for. You were being nice and I ruined it."

What? I stared at him blankly.

"Ooh, now that's an idea," he continued, talking to himself as if he had had a sudden epiphany, "perhaps if I was actually nicer to her and less full of myself, she might actually like me. How have I never considered that before now?"

I continued staring at him.

"Look! At the very least it'll make her quiet," he grinned.

I hit him on the arm. He winced.

"Sorry," I said reluctantly. "You're a very frustrating person."

"I am well aware of that fact, but thank you for your observation."

That was weird. We just had a briefly normal conversation.

"On that note, I actually came over here to see if you could, you know, patch me up a bit. Use those Charms skills for something other than hexing antlers on top of people's heads and the like."

"Why can't you just do it yourself? You've got magic same as me. Plus you deserved those antlers."

"Now now, Evelyn, I thought we were friends?"

"That may not be an entirely accurate statement, Black. Are you so injured you're creating fantasies in your head?"

"Only about you, darling - _dammit,_ I apologise again. I promise I'll work on that. Anyway, I could do it myself, but healing charms aren't exactly my forte, and so I trust you to do a better job than I will."

"Fine, what's wrong with you?"

Black pointed to his leg and mentioned that he may have actually broken it, but refused to say how, and then mentioned bruises on his stomach and face.

Easy enough.

I pointed my wand at his leg and muttered _brackium emendo_ before using _episky_ on his bruises.

He smiled after I had finished fixing him up, saying, "You're real good at that, Eva, you know that right? And thanks." He tested out his leg and then pushed away from the wall, melting back into the party with a nod goodbye.

That was a very strange encounter, if I do say so. I decided that I didn't want to think about it, so I attempted conversation with my peers, allowing myself to be sufficiently congratulated before heading upstairs to do some homework.

I do have my priorities, after all.

Although, obviously, I have been sidetracked by writing this all down, so I'm going to actually do my homework now.

 **Monday**

 **November 17, 1977**

 **Ancient Runes**

The one good thing about Ancient Runes is that aside from Remus' stunningly good looks and bright, welcoming smile, there are no other distractions.

This was why I am slightly disgruntled over the fact that Lily has decided this lesson is the perfect time to talk when I very much want to get on with my work.

I also regret giving her sheets of my charmed parchment paper - remember the parchment that allows you to communicate with others by just writing on it? Yeah. I regret giving her that paper.

I've attached a copy of our conversation:

 _Eva, please stop ignoring me._

 **No. I am obviously trying to do my work. Besides, Remus is looking sad so I have to try and brainstorm ideas of how to cheer him up.**

 _That's ridiculous - he doesn't look sad at all. And I need to talk to you about James because Lottie is too invested to give me an unbiased answer._

 **James, is it?**

 _Oh shush, Eva._

 **Well, be quick about it then. I don't have all lesson. Remember when I said to use this parchment for emergencies and emergencies only?**

 _This IS an emergency!_

 **Fine.**

 _Okay so this morning I was eating breakfast with James because you had gotten up early and when I tried to talk to Lottie she said something like ' you might be Head Girl but if you care about our friendship you'll let me sleep', so I wasn't left with very many options. Anyway, Peter was sitting with us too and asked if I would do his Potions essay for him, and James said 'do your own homework and stop trying to scam off of my girlfriend.' I didn't think anything of it at the time but thinking about it now I have just come to the realisation that he called me his girlfriend and I don't know how I'm supposed to deal with that. Am I his girlfriend? Do I want to be his girlfriend?_

 **I thought you said it was an emergency.**

 _Just for one second could you please give me a proper answer?_

 **Fine. I mean obviously I still think he's a prat and a git for obvious reasons that I don't need to go into, but at risk of sounding cliche, if he makes you happy and you think he actually cares about you then I don't think you have an issue except for yourself. You're overthinking it far too much. Of course you want to be his girlfriend, you won't bloody shut up about him.**

 _Alright, I guess so. I'll let you get back to your brainstorming. Thanks again!_

So that was that. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only sane one around here.

 **Monday**

 **November 17, 1977**

 **Library**

So it turns out that my observation of Remus' sadness was correct. He was sad. I shall proceed to document how I came to discover this information.

It was after dinner and I had decided that seeing as I was distracted for half of Ancient Runes I would go get some homework done in the library. I had chosen the Ancient Runes section partially because it was what I was studying, but also because no one goes to the Ancient Runes section because it's boring and fairly dusty in there. Unbeknown to the majority of the Hogwarts population, however, is that the Ancient Runes section has the best window seats to study in, so naturally, that is where I chose to study.

I was about halfway through translating the runes I had missed during the lesson when I spotted the back of Remus' head out of the corner of my eye, walking aimlessly through the bookshelves. I would like to clarify that the back of his head was also attached to the rest of his body. It wasn't just his head floating around.

Anyway, _'tis my chance!'_ I thought. I could ask for his help and bond with him!

"Remus," I hissed, always trying not to alert Pince to my presence.

He looked around in confusion, but spotted my nook and walked over, climbing into the space across from me.

Despite what Lily had said, I knew Remus, and I knew he was definitely upset about something. Immediately, all thoughts about asking him for help flew out the window, so to say.

"What's going on, Remus? Are you alright?"

He winced, trying to remain composed.

"I um, I..." he looked unsure of what to say next.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?"

He nodded, avoiding eye contact and staring out the window.

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to either."

I had assumed he had chosen the latter option because he stayed staring out the window for a couple of minutes, saying nothing. Without warning, he blurted, "Dorcas and I broke up."

Let me tell you, I certainly had a variety of feelings at this statement.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I knew you liked her a lot."

I was sorry, don't think I was just saying that. No matter what I think of Remus' relationships, I just want him to be happy.

"No, it's... it's not that. It's hard to explain."

"If you try it might make you feel a bit better?"

He continued looking out the window for a few seconds, and then said, "We were fighting a bit because Dorcas felt she couldn't trust me because I wouldn't tell her all of my secrets. And by wouldn't I really mean couldn't. There are some things that you can't really just tell people, you know?"

I nodded.

"It's not that I didn't want to tell her, it's because I couldn't, as I said. Which she didn't understand," he said with a frown.

It seemed I was right about talking making Remus feel better because now that he had started he couldn't seem to stop.

"Right before the Quidditch match she came and found me and told me that if I wouldn't tell her what was going on she didn't want to see me anymore, so, like the idiot I am, I told her." Remus' frown deepened. "I'm an idiot because I though she would be able to accept it but I shouldn't have been so surprised when I saw the look of horror on her face. They always have that same look, don't they. She broke up with me then, obviously."

This was the confusing part of the story. Obviously Remus seemed to have some apparently horrifying secret, but for the life of me, I had no idea of what it could be. What could be so terrible that Dorcas would break up with him? Poor Remus.

"It's just really disheartening, because the same thing is going to happen with the next girl I date, and anyone that comes after." Remus paused, looking at me for the first time since he had started talking. He looked away again, his cheeks turning red. "I'm sorry, I said too much."

"No, Remus, it's fine," I gently placed a hand on his knee. "I understand, well, not entirely, but I understand why you're upset, and I think it's perfectly justified. Besides, you're wrong about the last thing. Once someone gets to know you well enough there's nothing you could tell them that would make them want to leave you. Dorcas is the idiot, not you."

Remus returned my smile with a half-hearted one and then climbed down off the window seat. "Thanks, Eva. I'm not really sure that you're right, but I appreciate it all the same. And if you could not mention this conversation to anyone... that would be good too."

"My lips are sealed."

He smiled properly as he ducked around the side of a bookshelf, leaving me with absolutely no ability to concentrate on my homework.

I wish I knew what Remus' secret is so I could understand this all better, but he obviously doesn't seem likely to tell me any time soon. There's no way I could ask Dorcas, besides, I'm mad at her for how she treated Remus. There's nothing he could ever say to me that would make me horrified, and I'm not even dating him. I'm tempted to have words with Dorcas. Perhaps I'll get Black to drop flobberworm mucus on her again.

Oh, perhaps Black knows Remus' secret! Then again, it isn't really my place to ask him. Perhaps I'll just mention it casually so it doesn't seem like I'm probing or anything.

I wish I had that damn map right now.

 **Tuesday**

 **November 18, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Common Room**

Earlier today I took the opportunity to casually mention to my Potions deskmate that I thought the way Dorcas broke up with Remus was seriously not cool, which prompted a look of confusion far more intense than I had initially anticipated.

"Remus and Dorcas broke up?" Black whispered, glancing over my shoulder to where Remus and Peter were stirring their potion (something which we should have been doing).

"You didn't know?"

"I had no idea."

"How could you have no idea? It's been pretty obvious that he was upset."

"I've been distracted lately," Black muttered, looking annoyed. "What happened?"

"He asked me not to say... sorry."

"Not your fault, I'll ask him myself."

"It's just," I paused, thinking of how to word what I was going to say next, "Remus said Dorcas was horrified when he told her this big secret he has, and so I-"

"She what?" Black bellowed, knocking over our potion, the unfinished bright green shrinking solution spilling everywhere.

"Mr Black, what on earth is going on?" Slughorn cried, removing the mess with his wand before it could do any damage to the classroom.

"Sorry, Professor," Black said, "I accidentally knocked the potion cauldron over."

"Well please try not to disrupt my classroom again, and try to work with whatever is left in your cauldron because you do not have time to make another one."

I glanced at the now mostly-empty cauldron and grimaced at the knowledge that we might very well fail this assignment.

"Yes, Sir. Will do."

Once Slughorn had moved onto Lottie and Hollie Beckham's pungent smelling mess Black whispered, "I'm going to kill her, you know that right?"

"Well maybe don't, because we need her for Quidditch, but you could try the flobberworm thing again?"

Black seemed annoyed by the Quidditch point. "Fine. I'll only maim her slightly."

"That's better, I suppose. But about the whole secret thing-"

Black glanced at me sharply. "It's not something you need to know, but I can tell you that Dorcas is a twat, that's all. Now, we need to try and salvage our potion."

Luckily for us, Lily and Potter surreptitiously filled our vials with their potion, Lily's angelic smile cancelling out the look of suspicion that Slughorn sent our way when we handed them up.

What a crazy couple of days.

 _ **AN: New chapter whoop whoop! To all my new readers: welcome, enjoy the ride, and to all my old readers: thank you for putting up with this story as long as you have, and for voting and commenting and supporting me on this journey!**_

 _ **Two things I'd just like to say:**_

 _ **1) If you're waiting for a new chapter, I often post little snippets of what I'm writing on my profile, so it's worth chucking a follow if you just want a little bit more Black! and**_

 _ **2) Although I have main plot points for each chapter, half of the chapter consists of scenes I come up with on the spot, so if anyone has a particular interest in some of the minor characters and subplots (Isadora James, Aislin Murphy, Mark Abery, etc), let me know because it's so easy for me to put them in for you, and I want you guys to enjoy the story as much as possible!**_

 _ **3) I lied, one more thing: depending on what is happening I sometimes need to introduce random characters that may only be mentioned one time (such as Emmett Davis and Hestia Morris in this chapter), but still are mentioned in the story, so if you would like your name to be used for one of these random characters, I'll use the first five names that are commented on this paragraph! (in other words, I can't be bothered coming up with character names so please help me out here)**_

 _ **Lastly, the GIF today is Remus Lupin looking happy because I think we all need that in our lives right now.**_

 _ **OXO**_


	20. Alas: It's Trouble Time

**Thursday**

 **November 20, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

It turns out that it was a good decision to eat breakfast at a 'normal' time with Lily, Lottie and the boys this morning as I was witness to the mass panic that came with the flurry of owls delivering the Daily Prophet.

 _Fear strikes at the heart of London as Ministry officials gather around the crumbled remains of the Villalobos property on Murray Street, a twisting serpentine image cast above the scene of destruction. It is clear that last night's attack on the Villalobos family was no accident; an anonymous worker from inside the Ministry suggests that followers of the man who calls himself Voldemort are "targeting wizarding families that have muggle blood in an attempt to 'purify' the wizarding community". No victims of the attack survived, and the perpetrators are yet to be found, despite what the Ministry describes as "ardent efforts". Amanda and Amara Villalobos, the only remaining members of the family, were fortunately safe at Hogwarts School of Wit-_

"Oh stop reading that," chided Lily, grabbing the Prophet out of my hands. "You know what it says, you don't need to reinforce the negativity."

"Ignorance isn't always bliss, Lily," was my well thought out response.

"Yeah Lily," Potter added, taking the newspaper back from her twitchy hands. "Besides, we need to be educated about what this absolute maniac is doing to innocent people so we can stop him."

"Stop him?" asked Peter, looking alarmed. "He just killed an entire family!"

"Exactly," Potter responded with a raised brow. "He just killed an entire family for no reason other than the fact Mrs Villalobos was a muggle."

"How'd you know that?" asked Lottie, peering at her own copy of the Prophet. "It doesn't mention it anywhere here."

"I tutor Amanda in Transfiguration," said Potter. "That's correct, I'm a good person. And as a good person, I believe it is our duty to stop this fiend and his filthy followers."

"Nice use of alliteration, Potter," I said. Potter looked surprised that I had even addressed him.

Black, who had been silent during this entire conversation, suddenly spoke up. "By filthy followers, I suppose you mean the Slytherins?"

Potter sent a furtive glance to the other end of the hall. "I suppose I might."

"Well what are you hoping to do there, Prongs? They're all far too thick-headed to listen to reason," Black said.

"Well I was thinking maybe you could have a chat to Regu-"

"My brother and I aren't exactly on talking terms at the moment, James," said Black, screwing up his face into an unpleasant looking scowl. "Besides, he's just as thick-headed as the rest of them."

Potter stared at Black for a moment before nodding in agreement. "Alright Padfoot, fair enough. We'll just have to scope the situation ourselves."

"What's that s'posed to mean?" Peter asked, looking with concern at the Slytherin table. "Avery and his cronies are nasty to the bone, they probably wouldn't be worried about using," he whispered then, "unforgivable curses."

"I'm not scared of those idiots," said Potter. "Don't be so craven, Wormy, you're a Gryffindor after all."

"Easier said than done," Peter muttered, glowering at his empty plate. Lottie patted him reassuringly on the shoulder.

"Well I think James has a good idea," said Lily. "We can protect ourselves fine, plus, Eva's already demonstrated how easy it is to sneak into the Slytherin Common Room."

"Thank you, Lily," James smiled at her, "I'm glad _someone_ supports this motion."

"What motion exactly is this?" Lottie asked.

"I'm still working out the details," said Potter, unconcerned. "I'll let you know."

"Let us know?" I raised an eyebrow at Potter. "Who put you in charge?"

"Well I don't see anyone else raising their hands," he said. "Besides, I'm Head Boy so I have permission to access places most of you guys can't."

"I guess you do have that helpful map," I said.

"Helpful map?" Lily queried.

"How on _earth_ did you find out about our helpful map?" Potter asked, looking around in confusion before narrowing his eyes at Black. " _You._ "

"Guilty as charged," Black replied. "In my defence, it was probably an accident."

Remus, who so far had been oddly absent from the conversation, narrowed his eyes and said, "Just like you accidentally hexing Dorcas in the corridor was an accident?"

"Exactly the same," said Black, ignoring the surprised looks on most of our faces. "I thought she was my brother."

"Dorcas is blonde," Remus said.

"Reg might have dyed his hair, I don't know."

"Alright lads, you can debate the semantics of hexing Meadowes at a later point in time, we're getting off the topic at hand," Potter interrupted. "Can I recap? Evil wizard. Dead families. Thick-headed Slytherins. Ballsy Gryffindors. Quality bonding time consisting of helping put an end to an unwanted evil in this world."

"I still think this is a bad idea," said Peter.

"Well you can discuss that in your own time too," Potter said.

"This is my own time?"

"No it's not, Wormy, this is our time," said Potter before jumping up onto the table, "and in our time, we discuss important things!"

"I must ask, Mr Potter, that you step down from the Gryffindor table," called McGonagall from the other side of the room.

"Right, Professor, sorry Professor," Potter yelled in response, jumping back down. "Alright lads and ladies, I've gotta bounce, but I'll get back to you."

He ran out of the Great Hall. Black shook his head and slowly followed him out.

The rest of us collected ourselves and attempted to finish eating breakfast. I, for one, found this a difficult process, as my mind was riddled with questions. In order to try and make my questions and confusion more comprehensible, I shall set them out in a list.

 _ **A (possibly) Complete List of Questions Had by Evelyn K. O. Bishop on the Morning of 20th October 1977, Pertaining to the Events Described in the Daily Prophet and the Scheme Proposed by James. F. Potter.**_

(As an unrelated side-note, perhaps I should consider making the length of my list titles perhaps a little bit shorter.)

 **1.** Who even is this Voldemort? Why does he think it necessary to eradicate the world of perfectly fine wizards? I, for one, am a muggleborn, and so is Lily, and we're both top of our classes. I know for a fact that Avery is rubbish at Transfiguration and he's a pureblood, so where is the logic behind that? If we're not 'real wizards' then why do we have magic in the first place? You can't just say 'oh, you're not a real wizard' and then watch as that person turns a pumpkin into a porcupine and then switches your hands and feet for being a bigot. That, much like Voldemort's name, is just plain dumb.

 **2.** Why is the Ministry not doing much about this issue? Surely a crazed fanatic hell-bent on literally killing off a serious portion of the wizarding population is a real issue? I, for one, do not wish to be dead due to the Ministry's incompetency. When I grow up (obviously I am still a young sapling and not yet grown, and probably won't be for at least ten years) I will aim to put an end to this sort of lack of effort so that my children to not have to suffer through this sort of bollocks. "Ardent efforts" my left foot. If Potter can somehow pull whatever he's planning off I am going to send a letter of complaint to Dumbledore, and hopefully he can get the Ministry back on their feet.

 **3.** If James Potter is seriously considering taking this issue into his own hands then how on earth does he propose to do anything about it? What does he expect - he'll rally us all into a child army and take down the Slytherins? We still have NEWTs to study for! This is possibly the worst idea he's ever had.

 **4.** On a slightly less serious note... Black hexing Dorcas? Remus looking upset about it? What is going on here? I hope Remus isn't mad at me for hinting at Black. I hope Black didn't tell him I told him. Merlin, this is complicated. I hope Black hexed Dorcas nice and good. I hope Remus isn't legitimately upset about it.

 **5.** Even if Potter does want to do something... What on earth am I supposed to do about it? Do I, Merlin forbid, help him? That's a disturbing idea. Alas, difficult times call for difficult measures, so I'm just going to hope and pray that times aren't really _that_ difficult.

 **6.** Where did everyone go? I have just now realised all of my friends have left me sitting alone at the table.

 **Thursday**

 **November 20, 1977**

 **Muggle Studies**

I have taken the opportunity to sit next to Remus (not that this is anything out of the ordinary) so I can ask him about his feelings. Normally I would avoid asking someone about their feelings, particularly someone whose feelings I care so much about, but it seems that in this instance, Remus' feelings are _pivotal_ to my future and I can't seem to work them out.

To recap, what do we know?

First, Remus and Dorcas began a flirtatious relationship that developed into a disgustingly real relationship.

Second, this relationship seemed relatively productive, much to my continuing disappointment.

Third, said relationship began to encounter some speedbumps and hiccoughs, which can be described as a "terrible shame", to quote probably someone that is not me.

Fourth, this relationship was terminated due to Dorcas' inability to trust, and then further her inability to love Remus because of some sort of dreadful secret.

Fifth, due to unknown circumstances, Sirius Black discovered what was aforementioned in point number four and wisely made a decision to hex Dorcas in the corridor.

Sixth, Remus is upset about point five.

Seventh, I am upset about point six.

"Remus, what do you know about electricity?" I asked, peering over his shoulder at his blank piece of parchment.

"Electricity can be described as a set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of an electric charge. According to- what?" Remus tilted his head to look at me. "Why are you asking me about electricity?"

"Just wondering if anything was going on in that head of yours," I said, attempting to understand just what Remus had said about electricity. "Why do you know about electricity?"

On a side note, that's possibly the Hogwarts record for most times using the word 'electricity' in a sentence.

"I think it's interesting," said Remus. "I study things like that in my spare time."

Remus had the decency to look embarrassed. Nerd.

"Right. Is that the only muggle thing you find interesting because we're thirty minutes into this lesson and so far you've written nothing."

"Oh," said Remus, glancing at his blank parchment. "No, I'm just a bit distracted."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with what you mentioned at breakfast would it?"

"What did I mention at breakfast?"

"Something to do with hexing in corridors, I'm pretty sure."

Remus started to glare at his parchment with so much ferocity that I was concerned it might set on fire.

"I just can't believe he would hex her, you know? It was completely uncalled for and she's still in the hospital wing trying to get her teeth changed back from that awful reddish-brown colour and her ears back to a normal size. He had absolutely no right to do that, no right at all, and I'm disappointed at his childish behaviour. I asked him specifically not to do anything, and he ignored me." Remus paused, taking a breath. "Oh, I've said too much. You don't care about all of this."

"On the contrary, Remus. In fact, I care quite a lot."

"I just can't believe he actually hexed her," said Remus, potentially ignoring my last statement.

"Have you considered the idea that he was just looking out for you? By the sound of what happened when you guys, well, broke up, she was in the wrong. We all know Black's a bit reckless, and when he heard what happened I assume he immediately planned on seeing whether or not he was capable of any of those unforgivable curses, but for your sake he only hexed her. In fact, you should be thankful that's all he did."

"I suppose so. I'm still mad though."

"Sure you are."

"He shouldn't have done that."

"He was just looking out for you."

Remus stopped glaring holes into his parchment. "The point is, I asked him not to do anything, and he still did. That's what I'm mad about."

"Alright, that's fair."

"He's an idiot."

"You won't see me arguing with you on that point."

Remus laughed, thank goodness.

"Alright, Eva. I understand what you're trying to say. I'll take your ideas into consideration."

"Mr Lupin, we are twenty minutes into this lesson and you are talking with a blank piece of parchment on your desk. Perhaps you might want to reconsider some of your choices here?" Professor Bunt said, interrupting our conversation.

Remus immediately starts scribbling on his parchment and I pretend that I'm doing classwork, rather than writing in my diary.

I would just like to say that despite the complexity of Remus' situation, I am rather excited that he has chosen to confide in me! That's right, you heard correctly. Remus, darling Remus, has chosen that out of all of the people surrounding him that I am the one he would like to confide in. This isn't even the first time this has happened this week!

Back to Remus' emotions and such, I mean I get where he's coming from, but still! Black was just trying to defend his friend! I mean, if he hadn't done anything, I would have. There is no possible way that Remus' secret really warranted that sort of reaction from Dorcas, I mean what on earth could possible be bad enough for her to respond with the emotional maturity of a troll? Obviously an exaggeration.

I have to get to the bottom of this.

Alas, for now I should get back to Muggle Studies.

 **Thursday**

 **November 20, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

I'm writing rather late at night here because I have only just returned from performing my patrolling duties. Luckily for me, my patrolling partner was Frank Longbottom. Yes, I know he's a Hufflepuff, but believe me when I say he's one of the good ones. Besides, he's awfully funny.

So Frank and I had begun on our patrolling journey, engaging in light conversation and doing our best not to mention anything related to Voldemort because as we all know, he's bound to put something of a damper on a conversation. We had just passed behind a tapestry hung over a doorway pretending to be a wall and were heading through the corridor connected to it (it was a shortcut to the unused Charms classrooms on the third floor) when we overheard a hushed argument becoming increasingly louder.

Now, if this were any other circumstance I would have immediately busted the poor souls and sent them to their common rooms minus their dignity but it seemed that fate had a funny sense of humour because I unfortunately recognised one of the voices: Sirius Black.

And yes, I am also curious as to how I keep running into the bloke when I absolutely do not want to run into him. Perhaps it's Hogwarts that has a funny sense of humour. (On a side note, this is a theory that I am keen on developing further).

Frank moved to approach Black and his argumentative friend, but I quickly pulled him back and urged him to be silent as best I could. From my knowledge of the third floor shortcut corridor (as I had aptly named it) there was an alcove midway through that allowed for a couple to effectively congregate, hence my interest in going through it. I wasn't actually expecting Black to be there, although that is mostly because I try to live my life as if he isn't actually in it.

Anyway, I thought it would be an obvious choice to listen in on the conversation, much to Frank's displeasure. He's far too wholesome for this kind of business.

I gestured at him to lean against the wall so that they wouldn't see us and therefore prevent me from listening to what Black was saying, although I feared we had already missed the better part of the conversation.

"You're being an absolute idiot," said Black to the unknown person.

"You have no idea what you're even talking about, Sirius."

"No. _You_ have no idea what you're talking about. You think just because mummy and daddy tell you it's what to do that makes it right? He's killing people. He's killing real people with families, just like us."

 _'What on earth are they talking about?'_ went my inner dialogue, except with possibly more confusion.

"Exactly. And he can kill you and your mudblood friends too."

"Is that a threat?" asked Black, with what sounded like a lot of shuffling.

"No, and get your hands off of me. It's a warning. You think I want you to get hurt?"

"I don't know what you think anymore, Reg."

Ahh. That would make the mysterious arguer none other than Regulus Black, younger brother to Sirius Black and official Slytherin henchman.

"Well whose fault is that?" said Regulus, much to what I imagine was Black's displeasure.

"Yours!" said Black, the tone of his voice confirming my thoughts.

"I'm not the one who betrayed our family."

"Well I'm not the one who's supporting an evil, murdering twat for the sake of 'friendly family values' that are friendly to no one."

"You're wrong, Sirius, he-"

Unfortunately, Frank decided that it would be a good moment to make a gasp of horrified surprise at content of the conversation, which led to both Sirius and Regulus jumping out at us, wands raised.

"Eva? Frank?" said Black after a few seconds, his expression switching from frantic to surprised as he slowly lowered his wand.

"What are you doing here? How much of that conversation did you hear?" Regulus took a step forward, wand still pointed directly at us.

"Nothing, nothing at all," said Frank. "We heard a limited amount of nothing."

"What?" Regulus seemed too confused to attack, which was lucky, because as soon as Black raised his arm to point Regulus' wand away from us, he flinched and glared at him, appearing rather angry. "This was you, wasn't it! You set this up!"

"No, Reg, I had no idea they were going to be here!" Black said in earnest.

Regulus said nothing as he sped away from the three of us and down the corridor, but I figured the murderous expression in his eyes gave away his true feelings.

Black said nothing as he stared after Regulus and then slumped against the wall and crossed his arms. After pausing for a long moment, the three of us standing in silence, Black asked, "So, aside from listening in to private conversations, what are you two doing here?"

"Snogging," I said immediately, much to mine and everyone else's surprise. It's apparently an automatic reflex I have that I never knew about until earlier tonight.

"No, that's not- Eva, what, we never, I have a girlfriend," Frank said, fairly eloquently.

"I'm so sorry," I said, interrupting his attempt at speech. "I don't know why I said that. It was sort of a reflex, I suppose." I turned to Black, "We were not snogging in the slightest."

"...Right," said Black raising his eyebrows. "Well, that's good."

"It is?" I queried.

"Because Frank has a girlfriend, obviously. No other reasons."

"We're on our prefect patrol. You do know it's past curfew, right?" said Frank, getting back to the root cause of this whole incident.

"Yeah, I know," said Black. "Sorry."

"Sorry?" asked Frank. "You do know we're supposed to take points from Gryffindor, right?"

"To be honest that's not really the most important thing on my mind right now."

"Fair call, mate," said Frank. "Sounds like you're in a right pickle."

Black laughed, "Ahh yes, a pickle. That I am. I would have used that exact phrasing as well."

"I don't really like pickles all that much," I contributed.

"Time and a place, Eva," Frank replied.

"Right. Sorry again."

There was a bit of an awkward pause where none of us knew exactly what to say or how to go about getting on with our lives, and then Black managed to save the day by announcing, quite loudly in fact, that he should probably get to bed.

After Black rushed off to bed Frank and I continued our patrol; Frank determinedly not saying anything about the overheard conversation and I being so distracted by said conversation that I didn't even notice we had come across a young Ravenclaw couple snogging in a broom closet until Frank mentioned it a few minutes later.

That's about all of interest. Goodnight.

 **Friday**

 **November 21, 1977**

 **Muggle Studies**

Have you ever come across a situation where you have been looking forward to something but you can't actually enjoy it properly because of something that has happened shortly before said situation that has affected your mood and therefore your ability to enjoy the situation that you had been looking forward to?

Well I have.

Let me tell you about it.

Firstly, diary, I shall preface the story with the explanation that I am currently in Muggle Studies, and as we all know very well by now, Muggle Studies means Remus and Eva bonding time.

In a world where there are bloodthirsty wizards that want to kill you because being a muggleborn, despite being top of your class, means you're no good at magic and shouldn't be practising it, you need to learn to enjoy the little things. Muggle Studies is my little thing.

It's the one time I get to spend one on one time with Remus without him questioning my ulterior motives, and without distraction from any pesky friends that want to interrupt our sacred bonding time.

I had been looking forward to Muggle Studies since yesterday morning, my last Muggle Studies lesson, especially as Remus had been in a 'talking about his feelings' mood, and that leads to more bonding. Unfortunately for me, despite waking up in a good mood, enjoying a good waffley breakfast, and then walking to Muggle Studies with the rare winter sun streaming down on me through the windows, I was viciously accosted by one Isadora James in the corridor.

"Bishop, don't just walk past me as if you didn't see me or hear me talking to you," said Isadora.

I had, in fact, been so focused on Muggle Studies that I neither saw nor heard her, so...

"Was there something that you wanted, Isadora?"

Aislin and Cillian stood nearby, muttering to each other and shooting me pointed glances.

"There was, actually," said Isadora. "I'm not sure if you heard, but Amanda and Amara's whole family was killed."

"It was in the Prophet. I know what's going on."

"Well then you also know that it's He Who Shall Not be Named killing muggles and muggleborns."

"What's the point of this, Isadora? I have to get to Muggle Studies."

"The point, _Evelyn_ , is that people are being persecuted, and yet you Gryffindors are going around getting all chummy with the Slytherins, the very people whose families are supporting the monster attacking our families!"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Regulus Black seems to be having a lot of conversations with some of you, and Charlotte Ansen and Hollie Beckham are getting pretty chummy, not to mention Avery talking to you every chance he can get." Isadora glared down at me, her piercing eyes making her nose seem even more pointy than usual.

" _Actually,_ Isadora," I said, mentally preparing myself,"Regulus Black is literally the brother of one of my friends, so don't pretend to me like you never talk to your siblings. Besides, you have no idea what's going on there; don't pretend that you understand what's going on in Sirius' life, because you don't. Secondly, don't generalise all people into either good or evil, you've probably never talked to Hollie Beckham in your life, and I'm pretty sure it was your very boyfriend, Hollard Eustace Buggery, that was having a secret rendezvous with the Slytherins in the Forbidden Forest not too long ago, so how about looking at your own life before you go around throwing stones. And thirdly, Irvin Avery is a magnificent twat, who I want nothing to do with because he goes around hexing my friends for fun. It's not my fault he's obsessed with me."

"Well-"

"No, Isadora," I interrupted. "Not today. Goodbye."

With that, I flounced off to Muggle Studies, where I immediately wrote the entire encounter down. What nerve does she have to say what she said? Yes, I understand bad things are happening. Yes, I am concerned. No, _none of them_ are remotely mine or my friends' fault, so go shove a pigeon down your throat, Isadora.

 _ **AN: YOOOOOooooo... So, yeah, it's been a while. Sorry folks, but at least I'm back now, right? I just really needed a bit of a break to sort out some things in my personal life and I want to be able to write the best that I can and I have just felt like I couldn't really give all that I could to Black over the last couple months so I decided to take some time off.**_

 _ **I just wanted to say a massive HELLO I LOVE YOU to all my new readers, voters, commenters, and followers - I hope you enjoyed the feeling of getting a notification that this story was updated... I know... SUPER exciting!**_

 _ **Let me know what you enjoyed/didn't enjoy about the chapter and if there are any characters or situations that you would love to see more of!**_

 _ **Thank you all so much for reading!**_

 _ **OXO**_


	21. A Series of Disappointments

**Saturday**

 **November 22, 1977**

 **The Three Broomsticks**

Ahh. Hogsmeade Weekend. What a blessed time of the year.

Whenever a Hogsmeade Weekend rolls around it gives me time to pretend that I don't actually have any NEWTs to study for and that I am in fact just an average witch, walking around an average wizarding village. With a sneezing best friend who is pretending she's not sick.

Before we left Hogwarts this morning Lottie tried to convince Lily to go see Pomfrey and make use of the wonder that is Pepper-Up Potion. I won't besmirch the pages of my beautiful diary by writing Lily's response in full, but it definitely had something to do with not being able to snog Potter with smoke coming out of her ears. Disgraceful.

We left pretty early because Lottie and I wanted to spend time with Lily before she met up with Potter at lunch (I know; the AUDACITY). I thankfully refilled my stash of fizzing whizzbees and Lily sneezed on three second-year Hufflepuffs which caused a slight kerfuffle, but nothing to be too concerned about.

Of course, Lily and Potter decided that they wanted to meet up 'early' so it's not even eleven yet and Lottie and I are sitting on our lonesome, sipping on butterbeer. What kind of best friend ditches you for their boyfriend, I ask you? A mediocre one, that's what.

At least Lottie won't leave me.

Oh Merlin. To make matters even worse, here comes Sirius Black, trotting along like the half-witted trollop he is, probably waiting to meet up with his most recent snog. Oh wait, no, he's coming over here. This is the far worse option.

After a quick scan of the Three Broomsticks I unfortunately have deduced that there is no suitable snogging material around and that I cannot distract him with another woman. Oh, cheese and crackers - Lottie's waving him over!

"What are you doing?" I hiss at her.

"Being nice, Eva." She raises an eyebrow. "Now move over so he can sit down."

I mutter something rude under my breath and hope that she doesn't hear me as I reluctantly slide down the bench seat. Ooof. From the sharp pain in my ankle I can assume that I was wrong to bet against her hearing.

"Evelyn, Charlotte, what brings you two here on this fine Saturday?" asks Black as he plonks himself down beside me.

"Lily's left us for James, so we're plotting their sudden and immediate demise," says Lottie.

"Tell me about it," Black grumbles, "I had expected this trip to Hogsmeade to be rather exciting, but alas, Prongs is off with Evans and Moony's forcing Wormy to study for our History of Magic test. I too, am all on my lonesome."

"Oh?" asks Lottie, with a quick glance in my direction and a somewhat alarming glint in her eye. "That's too bad, Sirius. Looks like you might be forced to spend the day with us then."

"Well if you insist," he grins, poking me in the shoulder. "Don't look so sour about it, Evelyn. I promise I won't turn your ears green."

I'm not sour.

"Yes you are," he says.

"Stop reading my diary, Black."

"I can't help it if you choose not to bear your heart and soul to me and I have to try and hold onto a fleeting glance into your diary just so that I can feel closer to you!" he sighs dramatically.

"I just remembered," says Lottie, standing up suddenly, "I have a thing. I'm going to have to leave you two, I'm terribly sorry."

"What thing?" I ask. She never mentioned a thing.

"Yeah, Lottie. What thing?" Black echoes, his mouth twitching slightly.

"Just a thing. A meeting. With my professor."

"Which professor?" I frown, considering the fact that if Lottie leaves it means I'm technically obligated to spend time with Black. Alone. As aforementioned, she never mentioned a thing.

"The one that teaches me, Eva. I've got to go, I'll catch up with you later, okay?"

"Wait, no- don't leave me here with-"

I trail off as Lottie practically runs out the door.

"Well... that was odd," says Black. He looks as if he's trying to force himself not to laugh.

"Why is your face like that?"

"That's actually quite a rude question; this is just how my mother-"

"No, Black. Why are you laughing."

"No reason," he says, glancing back at the door, his stifled laugh expressing itself in a grin. "She just... had a thing. What a pity, this means we'll have to hang out without her, then."

Unfortunately, he says it as a statement, not a question.

I can't believe Lottie would just leave me here with him. Her thing better bloody be important.

"Sooo... Eva... What have you been up to lately?" asks Black.

"What are you doing? Why are you speaking like that?"

"I'm asking about your personal life," says Black, looking somewhat offended. "Is this not what you do when talking with friends? Ask about their lives and interests and such?"

"I mean I suppose so," I said after a pause, "but-"

"But," Black interrupts, "but nothing, because aren't we friends?"

"Uh..." I'm not really sure how to answer the question. I mean, I don't really suppose we're enemies. That may have been a slight exaggeration. Not, of course, that I exaggerate often, but in the case of Sirius Black I have been known to get a little bit dramatic. But anyway, I don't know if I'd exactly call us friends. Acquaintances, perhaps?

Black gasps at my lack of response. "Evelyn!" he says, "are you trying to tell me you don't believe that we're friends? What about our rendezvous at the Astronomy Tower where we discussed your feelings for my darling friend Remus- is that not what friends do?"

"Well, if I remember correctly-"

"And what about that time last year where I helped you with that one assignment?"

"That was only because-"

"And what about on your birthday where we played a fun drinking game together?"

"I'm not really sure you can count that as-"

"Evelyn," Black says, interrupting my final protest. "It's no use denying it. We're friends. No matter how hard I've tried to just stay acquaintances with you, you've cornered me at every turn. You've won me over. For lack of better judgement, I now declare myself your official friend."

As frustrating as he is, I can't help but smile a little bit. Ugh. My stupid face has betrayed me.

"I suppose you're not completely terrible," I say at last. "Just a mediocre amount of terrible."

"I knew it!" he grins. "Now that we're officially friends, how about that whole fifteen galleons thing-"

"If you bring that up one more time Black so help me I will rip off your toes, get the Hogwarts house elves to deep fry them in hot chilli, and then force feed them to you whilst simultaneously rubbing your toe-less feet in sandpaper."

Black looks somewhat alarmed at my response to his tasteless subject choice. "Ahh.. understood. Will not bring up again."

Hah. The look on his face. What a twunt head.

"In a very obvious effort to change the subject... perhaps we should have a walk around? I'm sure I could show you parts of Hogsmeade you've never seen before."

I wrinkle my nose. "Why is it when you say that it just sounds creepy?"

"It's my Black family charm, Evelyn. Now, shall we?"

I ignore his proffered hand and reluctantly get out of my seat.

Wish me luck?

Saturday

November 22, 1977

Gryffindor Common Room

Hogsmeade was a shambles, let's just say that.

Black spent the day dragging me around, showing me all of the secret passages around Hogsmeade and how at exactly 1 O'clock each Saturday the owner of Scrivenshafts walks back and forth in front of his store three times for no apparent reason before walking back inside.

At one point, after Black asked me what I really thought about the evil spirits in the Shrieking Shack with a disturbing amount of glee, we had a heated discussion over whether my favourite team, Puddlemere United or Black's fittingly monochromatic favourite the Montrose Magpies were better. Obviously Puddlemere United are, but after Black's complete denial over this fact, we begrudgingly agreed that no matter who was better, at least neither of us supported the Chudley Cannons.

What kind of idiot supports the Chudley Cannons in this day and age? Probably Hol Buggery.

I was admittedly slightly chagrined to discover that James Potter's team of choice was also Puddlemere, although I am at least glad our so-called esteemed Quidditch Captain has taste.

Speaking of our so-called esteemed Quidditch Captain, towards mid-afternoon Black thought it would be a good idea to follow James and Lily around, "to see what sorts of nefarious activities our Head Boy and Girl get up to when they think no one is watching."

Unfortunately for both of us, the apparent 'nefarious activities' were as follows:

 **An Incomplete List of the Nefarious Activities Engaged in by One Lily E. Evans and James F. Potter on the November Hogsmeade Weekend, Compiled by Evelyn K. O. Bishop with the Assistance of Sirius. O. Black**

 **1.** Extremely excessive hand holding. One could even say a traumatic amount of hand holding. The two list writers could imagine nothing worse than spending hours at a time with clammy palms pressed together in an attempt to feel close to one another. One list writer hopes one Remus J. Lupin is not fond of hand holding. The other one says they hope he is.

 **2.** Snuggling. The list writers really hope they don't need to say any more about this topic.

 **3.** Talking about their interests. I mean, sure- that's kind of necessary, but when it comes to James and Lily? Bleugh. One list writer remarks that the other should stick to the correct form of third-person list writing. The other suggests the former should shove it.

 **4.** Laughing. Shrill and eardrum-shattering.

 **5.** Far too much time in Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. Upon witnessing this event, both list writers responded with a wide variety of disgusted faces.

After spending possibly twenty minutes disillusioned at a near table in Madam Puddifoots, Black and I decided that this was far too disturbing to keep watching, and so we left, rather hurriedly. The two of them were having far too much fun for our tastes.

In a last-ditch effort to seem 'cool' and 'rebellious', Black decided that we were going to go back to Hogwarts through a hidden tunnel that came out in Honeydukes. You can never tell him, but I did actually think it was pretty cool. At least now I know how they managed to sneak butterbeer in all these years.

Just before we went through the tunnel, Black decided to buy a huge hunking bag of toffees to take with him, which is apparently his favourite sweet. I'd never actually tried Honeyduke's toffees before, but after having a few of his offered toffees and a few not offered ones, I decided his judgement wasn't wholly impaired.

That's about all that happened really.

I could have sworn I saw Lottie hanging around a few times, but she was never there when I looked again so it must have been a figment of my imagination.

I hope her thing was worth ditching me to spend a disappointing day with Sirius Black. Once, and never again, that's what I say to that.

 **Wednesday**

 **November 26, 1977**

 **Library**

The thing about Wednesdays is that we have a lesson in the middle of the day where we are supposed to spend it studying because after all, we are busy NEWT students. Usually, I try to find my own corner of the library to study because my friends are often too busy chatting about inane subjects to let me study in peace.

Unfortunately, all the normal study nooks I like to hide in were occupied when I arrived, so I had to find a spot on the floor behind a stack of bookshelves near one of the more-hidden nooks. This meant that I couldn't help but overhear the conversations around me, which gave studying an added challenge.

"I cannot believe that Jesse would do that to you! It's unbelievable!" said someone on the other side of the shelves in front of me.

If you want to gossip, perhaps your common room would be a better place than the library?

"If someone asks me how many newt eggs go into forgetfulness potion one more time I'm likely to use tarantallegra on them until they grow too tired to speak," said some likely third-year hidden to my left.

Ahh, third year. I have no pity for this person.

"We've almost gathered all of the ingredients. When can you start brewing?" said a familiar voice behind me.

Don't you hate it when you know you know something but you can't work out what it is? I'm gonna listen a bit more. Also, no, it's not rude to listen in on their conversation. If the goons had any form of intelligence, they would have used muffliato so I couldn't hear them. You can't blame me for taking advantage of their ineptitude.

"The issue is not when, but where," said another familiar voice.

"Michael thinks he's found somewhere suitable," said the first person.

Michael? As in Michael Nott? Merlin, it's the Slytherins. What on earth are they talking about? Surely not our Potions class?

"Well it had better be more than just suitable," said the second person, their voice sharpening slightly. "This potion isn't just something you can whip up in an afternoon. If someone finds it, we'll be in trouble. Besides, if Potter sees us on his blasted map being somewhere we shouldn't those Gryffindor idiots will be bound to find us. So, Irwyn, you'd better locate somewhere that's better than suitable."

"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist, Severus. They don't know anything yet, and they won't know anything until it's too late for them. Just brew the bloody potion because we can't start until it's done."

Merlin's undesirable dandruff! This does not sound vaguely school-related at all. Is this the sort of thing Dumbledore wanted us to report? And how do they know about the map? And what potion are they trying to brew? And why?

I'm going to go find Lily.

 **Wednesday**

 **November 26, 1977**

 **Elsewhere in the Library**

Luckily for me, Lily was studying in her usual nook in the library with Lottie and the Marauders. I offered a vague nod to all of them before psssting Lily and Lottie, who staunchly refused to come elsewhere with me so I could talk to them.

After careful consideration, I decided Potter's display of Gryffindor Nerve after the recent murders deemed the four boys eligible to listen in on what I had hoped to be a private conversation. And, because unlike the Slytherins, I am not an idiot, I cast a quick muffliatio around the area so that no one else would overhear.

"What on earth are you doing, Eva?" asked Lily, finally looking up from her Transfiguration textbook.

"I am preparing the environment for secret discussions," I replied.

"Secret discussions?" said Potter and Lily in unison.

"Yes. Secret discussions."

"Does this have anything to do with..." Lottie trailed off and glanced quickly in the boys' direction.

"No!"

As if I'd talk about them with them present? Lottie's been eating too many eggs.

"I'm sorry, we missed that last part...?" said Black, squinting at Lottie.

"Oh, shush, everyone. It's about the Dumbledore thing."

"Oh," said Lily. "You should have said so in the first place."

"Hate to interrupt what seems to be a very interesting conversation we're about to have," Black said, "but I, for one, have absolutely no clue as to what you are referring to."

"The Dumbledore thing," said Potter, patting Black on the back sympathetically. "It's alright that you're out of the loop, Pad, just don't take it too personally."

"As another person who is out of the loop," added Remus, "can I just say that repeating the phrase 'the Dumbledore thing' did not clear anything up for us whatsoever."

"Well, it's not my fault-" Potter attempted, before being interrupted by Lily.

"The Dumbledore thing," Lily said, whacking Potter on the shoulder, "refers to that time the Slytherins tried to hex us into oblivion, sending Peter to the Hospital Wing, and Dumbledore called Eva and I into his office to ask us to let him know of any strange activity happening around the castle."

"There's strange activity happening around the castle?" squeaked Peter, looking nervous.

"I guess we're about to find out," Potter said, leaning forward, apparently eager to hear whatever I was about to tell them.

"Okay," I said, "Well, I was sitting down elsewhere in the Library, unable to find one of my usual nooks, and I couldn't help but overhear a rather interesting conversation."

"Before you continue," Potter interrupted, "can I just quickly call this the first official meeting of the Gryffindor Evil-Putter-Outer-ers. It's a working title. Continue."

"Anyway, after listening for a bit, I discerned-"

"Ooh, nice word-usage, Bishop," interrupted Potter again.

"So help me James, if you interrupt her story one more time I will not hesitate to do that thing that I talked about yesterday to you when you're least expecting it," Black warned.

"Thank you," I said.

Black looked pleasantly surprised.

"So, I discerned it was Snape and Avery talking, and they were talking about having to make a very complicated potion."

"But that could just be for class!" said a hopeful Peter.

"They did say that they needed to find somewhere to do it that you boys wouldn't suspect them on your map and that they'd get in trouble if they were caught. And also that we ideally wouldn't find out about it until it was too late, and they can't start something until the potion is complete, which could take a while."

The group was silent for a moment.

"Um, this may seem like a side note, but what is this map?" asked Lily.

The other three boys looked at Potter and seemed to have a silent conversation that involved a lot of eyebrow-raising.

Potter groaned and stuck his hand in his pocket, pulling out what I knew to be the Marauders' Map.

"It's just a blank piece of parchment," said Lottie.

"Just wait," I said.

Potter glared at Black and muttered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," before watching the map slowly come to life on the parchment.

"Whoah," breathed Lily, looking at the little dot that read 'Lily Evans.' "Where on earth did you get this?"

"We made it," said Potter proudly.

Lily looked at the boys in awe. "This is... this is amazing."

"Thank you, Lily. We know," said Black.

"How come Eva knew about it and we didn't? And how come you didn't tell us, Eva?"

"That was my bad," Black replied. "I wasn't actually supposed to tell her, but I accidentally may have done so, and then suggested James may bring suffering into her life if she mentioned it to anyone, so that's probably why she didn't say anything."

"He's not wrong," Potter shrugged. "I would have turned her into a goat."

I laughed at that. "As if you could beat me in a duel, Potter."

"Excuse me?" Potter scoffed. "Your charms are no match for my transfiguring skills. You'd be weeping at my feet within minutes."

"I'm going to put an end to this conversation before it gets out of hand," Lily interrupted, "but I would like to bring us back to the whole Potions thing."

"While you lot have been arguing over nothing," said Remus, "I've been trying to make head and tail of Eva's story. What I think is happening is there are some people who are trying to brew an illegal potion for some sort of nefarious purpose. Does that sound about right, Eva?"

"I think so," I said.

"So you're wondering if this is one of those things that we're supposed to tell Dumbledore?" asked Lily.

"No-" said Potter, "don't tell Dumbledore. Don't tell anyone."

"What?" at least three of us said in unison.

"If we tell Dumbledore, the faculty may put an end to this whole scheme before it even begins, and then they'll come up with a different plan, and we'll know nothing about it. The Slytherins don't know we know what they're planning, so when they've finished, we can bust them, and then they won't be able to do anything else!"

"But what if we don't bust them," asked Lily. "Then they might do whatever they're planning to do. We don't even know what that is!"

"Lily," Potter scoffed. "Lily, Lily, Lily. Have you met us? We'll stop them."

"I'm not afraid to hex you, Potter," said Lily, narrowing her eyes.

"Alright, fair enough. I apologise," said Potter quickly.

"I think he's right though," said Black. "If we say something now, then we know nothing, but at least we know something at the moment. Besides, we can't just do nothing about it. We're the Gryffindor Evil-Putter-Outer-ers for goodness sake!"

"You're really gonna have to find a different name," said Lottie.

"I did say it was a working title," Potter grumbled.

"So are we decided?" asked Black.

"I agree with Black and Potter," I said. I know, shocker.

Lily looked at me for a moment before slowly nodding her head. "Alright. But make sure you watch them on that map. Nothing can happen without you knowing about it, alright?"

"We've got it, Lils," said Potter.

"Can we go back to studying now?" asked Lottie. "This Transfiguration paper is due tomorrow."

 **Thursday**

 **November 27, 1977**

 **Muggle Studies**

So after the whole DTB/Remus incident I really thought that it was a sign for something better for Remus and I, but after the conversation I've just had, I am now both upset and concerned.

I arrived at Muggle Studies, hopeful as ever (not for learning, but for Remus' undivided attention), and sat down in the best seat in the classroom (that is, next to Remus), and started to engage in conversation with said person.

I inquired as to how he was feeling after the events of his breakup, and the following conversation went as such:

"I guess I don't really know how to feel anymore, you know?" he said, a pained look in his eyes. He looked a bit ill actually, now that I think about it. But Remus is often sick, so it hopefully doesn't have anything to do with DTB.

"I really thought I trusted her, and she just betrayed me. It's my own fault, really. I never should have trusted her with... the... well, I shouldn't have trusted her in the first place."

"Mm, yeah."

"I know we weren't together for very long, but I think after the experience I just had I'm just going to swear off women for a while. Perhaps forever. I can be single forever. In fact, I probably deserve to be single forever."

"Oh, stop it, Remus," I said quickly. "You'll recover from this, there's no need to make such hasty decisions."

"No, Eva. You don't understand. I don't know if I could ever trust a woman again."

"Um... alright."

"I don't mean you, Eva," he said reassuringly. "I just mean a woman I would date."

It took all that was within me to not react.

"I really appreciate you letting me talk you about all this, Eva. You're a really solid friend. Sometimes the guys just, well, they overreact, but you're really chill, so I feel more comfortable talking to you about it."

"Yep," I croaked. "Chill. That's me."

Remus smiled at me and somehow mended and broke my heart at the exact same time.

 _ **AN: Two words: poor Eva. I keep scrunching up my face whilst writing this because I'm in literal pain over what just happened.**_

 _ **On another note, I only seem to write Black when I'm procrastinating, so be thankful I have seven assignments to do in three weeks!**_

 _ **I was going to put a GIF of Remus looking all cute and pensive but he doesn't deserve it so today we have Eva sitting on that seat in the Three Broomsticks immediately after Black says "Sooo... Eva..."**_

 _ **Speaking of, what team are we on at the moment? #bleva or #reva? Let me know in the comments section!**_

 _ **For those of you looking for book recs - cjjones1 has published an original fantasy called Wings of Eagles, and it's only a couple of chapters but awesome so far!**_

 _ **Also, feel free to comment characters you want more or less of because I love hearing your feedback! Thank you all so much for your patience and most importantly, for reading, voting and commenting! I love you all!**_

 _ **OXO**_


	22. Homorphus Schmorphus

**Monday**

 **December 1, 1977**

 **Hospital Wing**

"Miss Bishop, can you please remove yourself from that bed and head off to your classes?" asked Madam Pomfrey for the third time this morning.

"I mean I would, Madame Pomfrey, but I'm sick," I said. "Cough, cough."

"Enough of that now," Pomfrey replied, shaking down the bed next to me. "You're about as sick as Professor McGonagall is a turtle. That is, to say, not at all. Now, you're obviously upset over something so you can take one of three options. One, talk to me about it, two, take a sip of some of the calming draught I prepared earlier and go on your way, or three, leave and go to your classes. You can't stay here forever, dear."

Oh, Pomfrey. If only I could tell you what was going on in my head. Unfortunately, my heart still hasn't quite recovered from that short little conversation in Muggle Studies last Thursday, and yes, I know it's been four days, but something in me will _not move on._ It's rather frustrating really.

Later that day after that conversation I sat down with Lily and Lottie and sort of filled them in on what had happened, where we came to the joint conclusion that it would be best to move on, but I'm not doing a very good job of it. It's not quite as simple as just deciding to do something, especially when you don't really want to do it.

That is how I now find myself early on a Monday morning hiding in the hospital wing from life and its ensuing responsibilities and heartbreak.

"Eva," said Pomfrey, sitting on the bed beside me. "Which option are you going to choose?"

"I'll take the calming draught and then leave please, Pomfrey."

"Very well then, dear."

Pomfrey stood up and unlocked the medicine cabinet closest to me and pulled out a small vial of calming draught. "Now, this isn't a very large dosage, because we still want you to be able to concentrate in your classes, but this should be enough that you stop worrying for the day, alright?"

"Alright, Pomfrey," I said, grabbing the vial from her warm, motherly embrace.

Speaking of, I should probably write my own mother.

"I hope I won't see you back here anytime soon," said Pomfrey as she waved me out the door.

Silly Pomfrey. What an absurd expectation!

 **Monday**

 **December 1, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dormitory**

"You know what, Eva?" said Lily, pacing at the foot of my bed. "You need to just stop focusing on it. You've got far more important things to worry about than some stupid boy who's too blind to realise what's right in front of him! Think about Quidditch, for starters. Two days ago Ravenclaw completely annihilated Hufflepuff because Richard Smothers finally joined the team and they haven't had a better chaser in years, so how are you gonna get around that? What about your NEWTs? I know you haven't finished your Divination assignment. Lets not forget about your tutoring either. How's Mark doing? Oh, and don't think that I'll let you forget about helping plan the Christmas Ball either. You're still a prefect. There. Plenty of other things to think about."

"But Remus-"

"Did you not listen to a single thing I just said, Eva?" asked Lily, throwing her hands into the air.

"Well, yes, but he just looked so sick today in class and I want to know if he's feeling alright and I can't just not focus on it because I need to write about it in my diary, so."

"So help me Evelyn Bishop I will rip that diary out of yo

 _Dear Diary,_

 _I, Evelyn Bishop, am a git to the umpteenth degree. I don't listen to my friend's increasingly excellent advice because as aforementioned, I am a git._

 _Lily Evans is the most amazing, talented, brilliant, intelligent person I have ever met and I am so incredibly blessed to have her calming presence in my life and yet I squander the opportunities that she presents me with that will lead to an increased life fulfilment._

 _My best friend is also apparently a lump of paper and ink, and think that this lump is better at advice giving than my real human friends._

 _Lots of love, Eva._

Sorry about that. If you couldn't guess, Lily took my diary out of my hands and decided to desecrate it with her handwriting.

"Just like you desecrate our friendship with not listening to my advice!"

Luckily for me, Lily's coming rant was interrupted by Alice, Marley and Lottie stumbling into the Dormitory with loud peals of laughter.

"Oh, hi girls," said Alice between breaths. "Whatcha up to?"

"I was just in the middle of berating Eva over her poor life choices," said Lily, not too kindly.

"Oh," said Lottie, sobering up rather quickly. "Still on that, are we?"

"Unfortunately," said Lily, glaring at me.

"It's not my fault!" I said indignantly.

"Well, actually-" Lily started, before she was cut off by Marley grabbing her and slapping a hand over her mouth.

"Not helpful, Lils," Marley said, fighting to keep Lily under control. After a few seconds of struggling Lily sighed and stopped moving.

Marley slowly moved her hand off Lily's mouth.

"So, before we all make some poor life choices, let's just all chill out a bit, shall we?" said Alice, plonking down on my bed. "What I think is happening here is Lily is just trying to help you out, Eva, albeit perhaps a little too forcefully?"

"I'm not making poor life choices," I muttered.

"Well-" Lily started again but was cut off by a cutting glance from Lottie.

Yeesh. I know Lottie's not particularly forceful or anything but when she puts her mind to something I wouldn't want to be on the other side of it.

"Despite the way that Lily has been, well, communicating her ideas, Eva, I still think she's kind of right," said Alice.

"We just think it's time you move onto better ("and bigger," said Marley with a gleeful expression) things," said Lottie, slapping Marley's arm.

Maybe they're right? I don't know. Remus is just, well, Remus. But he did also basically tell me he never wants a relationship with me. Ever. Which is...

How do you scream in a diary?

"Eva, you are a totally banging person with a great personality and lots of talent and so Remus is obviously blind if he can't see that, but you've got to move on. It's just going to hurt you more if you don't," Alice said. "Besides, there's plenty of other fish in the sea."

"I suppose so," I said at last.

"That's the spirit," Lottie said. "If you'd like we could totally sneak into his dormitory and trash all of his belongings. I know Lily's good at making things smell really bad."

"I'm going to assume that's something to do with magic, and not just, body stuff..." said Marley, taking a step away from Lily.

Lily glared at her.

"No, don't do that. It's fine. I'm fine."

"Um, I hate to put a pause in this conversation," Lottie interjected, "but we've got Herbology in five minutes and if Pomfrey sees that I'm late again she'll give me a detention."

Herbology.

That's fine.

I'm fine.

 **Tuesday**

 **December 2, 1977**

 **Potions**

For some reason, Black has take it upon himself to actually behave in class today. In fact, all of the boys seem rather subdued. Remus isn't in today, he's probably sick again.

Speaking of, it's only been a day and I am _officially_ moved on.

Where is the proof, you ask?

 _ **A Complete List of the Ways in Which Evelyn K. O. Bishop has Officially Moved On from Remus J. Lupin**_

 **1.** His hair no longer seems to shine in the sunlight.

 **2.** I looked at Ludo Bagman in DADA today and he actually seemed vaguely date-able.

 **3.** I didn't even think about him when I woke up this morning!

 **4.** I am an adult and when I put my mind to something I can totally do it so I am definitely 100% moved on and in fact I don't even care if he's sick because I obviously don't care about him anymore at all whatsoever at all.

 **5.** I didn't need to go see Pomfrey this morning.

Yeah so my list isn't that long but I think it still suggests that I am fully moved on and ready to mingle with the wizarding community. Boys, come at me because I am _ready_ for you.

Alright, perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration.

Speaking of exaggeration, I need to stop Black from ruining our potion.

"The bulbroot actually goes in after the cockroach legs," I said, quickly grabbing Black's hand to prevent him from destroying all our hard work. "I thought you had finally learned how to read?"

"Whoah, Evelyn, if you wanted to hold my hand so badly you could have just asked!" Black said, dropping the bulbroot on the desk and clasping my hand again.

"Please do not." I tried and failed to extricate my hand from his grip.

"I mean, I knew you wanted to be friends with me but I didn't realise you wanted to be friends with me this badly!" he said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Mr Black and Miss Bishop," said Slughorn, approaching our desk. "Please stop canoodling and resume your potion, please! Although, I must say, this is a very interesting development."

Black slowly let my hand go but I could see he was still grinning.

Dammit, Black.

On an unrelated and meaningless side note though, he does have very nice hands.

 **Wednesday**

 **December 3, 1977**

 **The Black Lake**

So. It's about 5:30 am in the morning. I guess it was just one of those nights that I couldn't sleep - you know when you can't switch your brain off? So I figured instead of lying in bed and staring at the ceiling I would come out here. It's still dark. I don't think the sun rises until 7:30 am.

Probably the Black Lake and the Astronomy Tower are my two favourite spots in all of Hogwarts. Aside, of course, from the Charms section in the Library.

The lake is just really peaceful, you know? And it has these little flowers that grow all around it in the spring, and they just smell so nice.

Plus I like seeing the giant squid just pop a tentacle into the air from time to time. Adds a layer of excitement, you know?

Oh, Jiminy Cricket - I think I just heard a howl!

I mean, I'd heard there were werewolves in the Forbidden Forest, but I didn't really believe it.

Should I go investigate?

It's probably not a good idea.

You know what? I'm gonna do it. I've got my wand with me this time.

It's probably not even a werewolf.

Oh, Merlin, there's another howl.

I should probably put my diary down.

 **Thursday**

 **December 4, 1977**

 **Hospital Wing**

Then I woke up, and it was all a dream.

Kidding!

What happened yesterday morning was definitely not a dream. Well, you probably guessed that, seeing as I'm in the hospital wing. It's a long story. Not really sure why I said that seeing as I'm just about to explain what happened so whether it's a long or short story is irrelevant.

Anyway.

So, I had heard the howling in the woods, and you know me - I had to investigate. I'm not really one to just ignore things like that.

I had no idea what to expect or what I was even planning to do once I discovered whatever was happening, so I could have perhaps thought that through a little bit better. Probably why I'm not in Ravenclaw.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't a very good idea to go exploring in the woods to find the source of a mysterious howl. We can at least call this a learning experience.

I had been walking through the Forbidden Forest for about fifteen minutes, wand out, when I heard a third howl, and it seemed to be coming from really close by. As in good-thing-I-had-my-wand-out-or-I-might-have-died close by.

As in, good-thing-I-know-how-to-do-defensive-blocking-charms-so-that-the-massive-werewolf-jumping-toward-me-to-rip-out-my-throat-is-deflected-ten-feet-away-from-me kind of close by.

I had never been in this situation before.

I know, weird, right? You'd think I'd run into werewolves every second day but apparently not.

Consequently, I had no idea what to do.

All of a sudden it seemed like a very bad idea to be in the middle of the Forbidden Forest with a werewolf when there was still at least an hour until sunrise, especially when that werewolf was kind of mad that I stopped it from ripping out my throat.

I heard what sounded like another wolf howl in the distance. The werewolf perked up its ears and almost turned to follow the howl but then apparently decided ripping my throat out would be more fun. I quickly shot _confundus_ at the werewolf but it didn't seem to phase it whatsoever.

This was bad. Think, Eva. Think.

 _"Glacius Tria,"_ I yelled, coating the werewolf in ice. If this had been a normal situation, it definitely would have worked. Unfortunately for me, it was not a normal situation. This was a highly not-normal situation. The werewolf seemed to shake off the ice and continue toward me as if it had simply had a leaf fall on its head.

Think, Eva. Think. Why couldn't I remember anything that Murphy had been talking about this year?

 _"Incarcerous!"_ No. Of course ropes wouldn't be able to hold it. Why would I think they would?

 _"Stupefy!"_ Now it just looked more mad than it had before.

Oh, Merlin. It looked ready to jump. _"Confringo!"_

The werewolf yelped as the spell hit it midair. The spell had hit the werewolf down its side and it crash landed to the ground right in front of me, a gaping wound running down its side.

Ouch.

Time to run?

I ran while the werewolf was distracted. Within seconds I could hear the sounds of it barrelling through the trees behind me, letting out an occasional noise of pain as its wound was jolted.

I had only been running for a few seconds when I noticed a large tree with low branches. I could climb trees, right?

I came at it with a running leap, scrambling up onto the lowest branch and pulling myself up onto the second highest. I was reaching out to the next branch when I felt a searing pain down my ankle.

I glanced down and saw that I hadn't been as quick as I'd hoped, and the werewolf had leapt toward the branch I was on, missed, but still managed to shove its claws into my leg.

 _Ouch._

I pulled myself higher up the tree and let out a yell of pain as I put weight on my ankle.

The werewolf circled below, looking as if it was trying to work out the best angle to attack me from.

 _Think, Eva. Think._

Oh. I could always try- No. I've never done it. I don't even know how to do it. I've only read about it. I don't even know if it can be done.

Deep breaths.

Trying couldn't hurt, and I was out of options. I didn't want to hurt the werewolf, but I didn't want to die either.

Alright, Eva. You can do this.

I took a breath and steadied myself on the branch. I knew I didn't have very long.

Without trying to worry too much about it, but still staying focused on the werewolf below me, I muttered the incantation.

I watched from above as the homorphus charm miraculously started working.

In light of what had just happened I had blocked out the noise of the other wolf that I heard before, but now that it was eerily silent the sound of its howl cut through the early morning like a knife. It was close by.

I didn't realise werewolves travelled in packs?

The werewolf below me seemed to be in great pain as its body slowly reformed back into a human shape. I couldn't help but groan as I heard the bones cracking.

The howling was definitely nearer, so I decided to try and climb further up the tree. I knew I wouldn't be able to heal my ankle because it was a werewolf wound, and I didn't exactly have any of the necessary potions on me, so I had to try move through the pain.

At least it wasn't a bite. I think.

Oh, Merlin.

The howling stopped as soon as it seemed to be right near me. _Oooh,_ my ankle hurt. I mean it _really_ hurt. I tried again to climb up the tree but the slightest movement made me feel like I was going to keel over.

The werewolf was still changing below me, but I could see that it was mostly human now.

I heard the sound of twigs breaking as something stepped on them, and I knew that if I didn't try just once more to climb a little higher, then I would be shark bait. Although I tried, the only thing that happened was I let out a shrill sound of pain and clung to the branch as the world swung around me.

"Eva?" I suddenly heard. I turned my head and to my complete and utter bewilderment I saw Sirius Black standing directly underneath me, a look of absolute horror on his face.

"Quick, Pad, he's been injured. It looks pretty bad. Do you have his clothes?" said what appeared to be James Potter, coming out of the underbrush.

"Eva?" Black queried again, ignoring him.

"My ankle, it-" I started, but found I couldn't say anything as the world went black around me. The last thing I remember is the jolt of someone's body breaking my fall, and the sound of James Potter swearing like a sailor.

This leads me to where I am now.

I woke up about twenty minutes ago, much to Pomfrey's great joy. She immediately stuffed me full of potions and assured me that the scratch on my ankle wouldn't turn me into a werewolf, but it would leave a large scar. She then spent the next five minutes berating me for journeying out into the Forbidden Forest alone at night, which I figured I deserved.

She's now fussing around the bed next to me. I don't know who's in it as she's got the curtains drawn around it. I think she's saying something about fancy charms work but I'm not really sure.

Oh, look. She's coming out. Oh, wait, no it's someone else.

Oh.

It's Sirius Black.

He stares at me for a long, hard second before walking over, his face stony. "What on earth did you think you were doing in the Forbidden Forest before light, Eva?"

"I, well, I couldn't sleep, and so-"

"Do you know how much danger you put yourself in? You put us all in? Do you know how scared I felt when I saw you clinging to that tree? You could have _died,_ Eva, you could have-"

"That's quite enough, Mr Black," said McGonagall, striding through the doors of the Hospital Wing, Dumbledore strolling in behind her. "I'm sure Miss Bishop is well aware by now of how foolish her actions were, especially since the fifty points she lost for Gryffindor has placed us in last for the House Cup. I'm sure she doesn't need you to yell at her, especially seeing as you too were out in the Forbidden Forest before light."

Black went silent.

"Shouldn't you be in class right now?" McGonagall added.

"Flitwick said I could drop Remus and Eva's books off for them," Black said. "I'll be heading back then."

He walked out of the Hospital Wing without so much as another look at me.

"Miss Bishop... Eva," McGonagall said, coming to stand near the side of my bed. "Madame Pomfrey has assured me that you are now well enough to discuss the events of yesterday morning."

I nodded slowly.

"You were, although unintentionally, attacked by another student, and it is in your right to press charges against him and the school if you wish to do so."

"I- what?"

Another student? The werewolf was another...

Oh my.

It was as if a puzzle I didn't know I was solving suddenly all clicked together in my brain.

Remus.

Pomfrey pulled back the curtain to reveal Remus staring at the ceiling, a blank expression on his face.

"If you would like to press charges-"

"No, I don't," I said, interrupting McGonagall. "It's fine. It was my fault. I don't want to."

"Well, are you sure you-"

"Minerva," said Dumbledore, placing a hand on her shoulder. "She doesn't want to. Let's leave it at that, shall we?"

McGonagall nodded, her mouth pulled tight. "Just, don't do that ever again, Eva? Or I... Or I may have to expel you." She turned and with a nod to Pomfrey strode out of the Hospital Wing as quickly as she had come in.

Dumbledore walked slowly over to my bed. "This world can be a little strange sometimes, wouldn't you say so, Eva?"

"I come from a muggle family, so I think a lot of it is quite strange," I replied.

"What one has to remember, amidst all the strangeness, is that people are still people, even if they are a little bit strange."

"Are you talking about..." I glanced at Remus who was still staring at the ceiling.

"What I'm saying, is that you need to consider the people over the strangeness. Is that reasonable?"

"Yes, sir."

Dumbledore paused, looking over at Remus before turning to leave the Hospital Wing.

"Oh, and Eva?"

"Sir?"

"The world is not a particularly friendly place at the moment, so I must ask that you and your friends do your best to remain out of trouble, at least for a little bit. Do you think you can manage that?"

"Um, I suppose so."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at me and then left the Hospital Wing too.

Now it was just Remus, Pomfrey and I.

"I need both of you to stay here because I need to go ask Professor Slughorn about some potion ingredients I need. Can you manage to stay in your beds?"

"Yes, Pomfrey," I said. Remus nodded mutely.

Pomfrey left the Hospital wing, closing the door behind her.

It was silent for what felt like years, before I finally decided to say something. "I'm sorry for hurting you, Remus. Are you alright?"

Remus finally turned his head to look at me, his face deathly pale and looking as if he hadn't slept for weeks. "Am I alright?" he asked.

"I mean, I used a pretty harsh spell on you."

Remus let out a short, hollow laugh. "I could have killed you and you're asking me if I'm alright?"

"Yes?"

"Don't make fun."

"I'm not, Remus. I hurt you. Are you alright?"

After a moment he responded. "My body will heal. It always does."

"Good."

It was silent for another few years.

"I suppose you'll tell everyone then, and then never talk to me again," Remus said after a while.

"What?"

"Now that you know what I am. You'll tell everyone. And then you'll never talk to me again."

"Don't be ridiculous, Remus." I said.

"You're the one that's being ridiculous, Eva. I could have killed you, and you don't know that I haven't killed before. I'm not safe to be around."

"Well, you didn't kill me. In fact, it kinda seems like I protected myself fine on my own."

"Fine. But that doesn't change what I am. I'm not even human."

I pulled myself out of bed and hobbled over to stand over Remus, who was being a right idiot. So what? He's a werewolf! Doesn't change that fact that he's smart, kind, loyal, and has a habit of choking on his pumpkin juice whenever Potter or Black say something stupid.

"Yeah, whatever, Remus," I said, glaring at him as I sat down on the side of his bed. "You're a werewolf, congratulations! Guess what, I don't really care. You can still help me with my Ancient Runes assignments just fine. Plus, if you were really a massive threat then why does Dumbledore let you come here? Don't just assume people don't want to understand you without even giving them the chance to. You're not allowed to have a pity party if you're making up the whole pity part."

Remus stared at me for a second. "Are you being serious?"

"Why would I lie to you about something like this? You're one of my friends, Remus. Sure, I'm kind of bummed you clawed my leg and it still really hurts. You know what else would really hurt? Not being friends with you."

"I- I don't... I thought... I guess I didn't think anyone could really..."

"If your stupid boyfriends can still be friends with you then I can still be friends with you, Remus. Merlin, I thought you were more clever than this."

"You think I'm clever?"

"Uh, yeah? How do you think I pass Ancient Runes? And remember you were the first person to master _riddikulus_ when we learned about boggarts in third year. Actually, I'm only just now realising why your boggart was a moon. I thought you were just afraid of the dark or something."

Remus laughed again, properly this time.

"Yeah, I'm an idiot, I know." I said.

"I can't believe... I mean, I never..." Remus paused and looked at me. "After Dorcas, I thought-"

"Bloody hell!" I said, standing up from Remus' bed in a moment of anger. "Is that why she-"

"Miss Bishop, get back into your bed immediately!" said Pomfrey, having returned from her errand. "What on earth do you think you're doing?"

"I was just-" I said.

"Bed. Now."

I hobbled back to my bed and hopped in, pulling a face at Remus.

"If I see you out of that bed again today so help me I will write your mother and tell her all about your injuries, Evelyn."

Oh, good Merlin. Anything but that. "Right-o, Pomfrey. In bed I will remain."

"Good."

"Eva?" said Remus after Pomfrey had stopped yelling at me.

"Yeah, Remus?"

"Thank you."

 _ **AU: If there was a word to describe this chapter it would be 'yikes!'**_

 _ **I hope everyone sufficiently enjoyed everything that occurred in this chapter that I basically wrote in one day.**_

 _ **Thank you to everyone who has been reading Black from the start, and to people who are only reading it just now - all of you are amazing and I love you! Thank you for voting and commenting - it means so much to me!**_

 _ **Let me know what you thought about this chapter in the comments, and let me know what and who you want more of!**_

 _ **OXO**_


	23. Stunning the Masses with my Sleuthing

**Monday**

 **December 8, 1977**

 **Potions**

There has been a boy staring at me for at least half an hour now.

I have been trying my very best to get my Potions work done but I cannot because there has been a boy staring at me for the entirety of today.

All during breakfast he was staring at me.

The whole walk to Potions he was staring at me.

And now, during Potions, he has been staring at me.

Who has been staring at me, I hear you ask?

That is correct.

You have guessed it!

Hollard Eustace Buggery.

Not only do I have to put up with his annoying prat of a girlfriend, Isadora James, but I have to live with the knowledge that he has been staring at me for a while now.

I'm gonna stare right back at him so he knows I know he's staring at me.

I stare at him but he quickly averts eye contact.

I turn back around and can immediately feel his eyes boring a hole into the back of my head.

Again, I turn around, and again, he averts his gaze, his cheeks turning slightly pink.

Black, my ever-helpful desk mate, nudges me and whispers, "What are you staring at, Evelyn?"

"Hol Buggery," I respond, turning back to face the front of the classroom.

"Evelyn!" says Black, looking affronted. "I thought that I was the only man in your life!"

"Right. Because I'm the only woman in your life..."

"Well if you wanted to you could be," Black quickly responds, his face turning serious.

I can feel Hol staring at me again so I turn around sharply and catch him in the very act. He continues staring at me for a second as if he hasn't quite realised I can see him looking at me, but then averts his gaze.

"Evelyn?" says Black, nudging me again.

"What, sorry?" I say, slightly distracted. I can't focus on whatever he's saying when Hol Buggery will not stop staring at me.

"Oh, never mind."

"Mhmm."

I reckon I'll have to corner Hol after class. Find out what he wants and all.

"Mr Buggery, is there something you're finding more interesting than my teaching?" asks Slughorn.

"Apparently," mutters Black.

"Mr Buggery?"

"Um, fluxweed?" says Hol, looking at Slughorn with concern.

"Two points from Ravenclaw, Mr Buggery. I would advise you pay attention if you do not want to lose any more points for your house today."

Hol Buggery nods at Slughorn and then slowly turns his gaze back to me.

This is going to be a long lesson...

Monday

December 8, 1977

Great Hall

It's tea time, thank goodness. The good thing about tea time is that everyone is there, so the Great Hall is full and jolly and brings a good sense of community. The bad part about it is the aforementioned fact that everyone is there, and that means that I cannot enjoy some much-wanted peace and quiet.

Today has been slightly eventful, what with Hol staring at me for the better part of the day, leaving me no choice but to confront him about it after Transfiguration before Quidditch practice, and now I'm eating dinner and have not had a single moment to myself!

Oh, right, so that whole confrontation thing.

So I was walking down the hall after Transfiguration, and at this point I was fairly fed up with the whole staring thing, so I told my mates that I left something in the classroom and would catch up with them in a second. I waited until they turned the corner before I marched straight up to Hollard, grabbed him by the collar and dragged him the other direction down the corridor, ignoring his feeble yelps of protest.

"Explain yourself, Hollard," I said, dropping his collar.

Hol stumbled against the wall, attempting to stand upright. "I- what? You've just assaulted me and I, uh," he paused panting. "I have realised that the best way to diffuse this situation would be to not drag this conversation on for longer than necessary so I'll just go for a, to what exactly are you referring to, and if it's the staring then-"

"It's the staring."

"-then I'm not sure... Oh, right. So it is the staring, then?"

"Buggery..." I did not have the patience to put up with his tomfoolery.

"Right. I, um, well I've discovered that I'm not very good at lying so I'll probably just angle towards the truth, then?"

"That would be wise."

"In all seriousness, though, you do need to swear not to say anything about what I'm about to say to you to anyone ever."

"That's dumb, so no."

"Well, you see, I'd prefer it-"

You know those days where things happen and you kind of just run out of patience and don't really want to put up with other people? Well, that was one of those days. I was annoyed that Hol had spent the whole day staring at me. It had actually made it quite difficult to focus on any of my lessons, and I actually like my lessons so I won't thank him for that. That is why I decided to pull out my wand and poke it in his face. Please don't begrudge me for not wanting to put up with him any longer than I had to.

"Oh, gee, that's wand. Please don't hex me, my mother tells me my face is pretty," Hol said, scrunching up his face and bracing himself against the wall.

I wrinkled my nose in distaste. When will he stop whining and actually answer the bloody question?

"Just tell me why you've been staring at me all day!"

"Iwantedtoapologisefortryingtogetcharmsinformationoutofyoufortheslytherinsbutitsnotmyfaulttheywerethreateningmysisterwhosasquibandididntknowhowtotellyouandtheysaidtheywouldkillherifididnthelpthembreakintoflitwicksofficeandimsorryokaythatsthewholestorypleasedonttellanyoneitoldyouthis."

Merlin on a STICK. Those bloody Slytherins.

"We thought something was up with Avery and his goons. What else can you tell me?"

"Uh, can you stop pointing your wand at my face? Then I'll tell you whatever you need to know."

"Oh, right." I reluctantly lowered my wand. I was hoping to hex someone today, so that was disappointing, to say the least.

"...Thanks... I don't really have much else to say. They cornered me right at the beginning of term, and I didn't know what to do, so I just did what they asked. Obviously I wasn't very good at it." Hol muttered that last part.

"So why are you telling me all this?"

"Well, I thought you could maybe do something... I dunno, you seem to be a fairly competent witch."

The only good thing that's come out of Hollard's mouth thus far.

"Alright, Hol. I'll have a look into it for you. No promises though."

Hol breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank Merlin."

"I'll be on my way then. I really hope this is the end of the whole staring thing, because that was starting to really annoy me."

"Uh, noted. Definitely noted."

I turned to leave, but remembered Hol's sister and thought to ask about her. "Oh, what was your sister's name again, Hol? I didn't realise you had a sister."

"My what?" Hol stared blankly at me.

"Your sister. The squib?"

"Oh, right. Her. Um, Pe...nelope?"

I paused for a second, thinking. "How did you end up with a name like Hollard when your sister's name is Penelope?"

"Not really sure," said Hol turning red. "Don't really want to talk about her, um, really. It's a bit of a touchy subject for me, really. To be really honest, Eva, I would really prefer it if you didn't mention her to anyone."

Yeesh. I knew some pureblood families were elitist but to pretend your own sister doesn't even exist? That's rough. Also, how many times do you need to use 'really' in a sentence?

Anyway, so after that delightful conversation I left Hol looking slightly frazzled and hurried off to Quidditch practice so James Potter wouldn't whoop me, and here I am.

McGonagall is taking names for the holidays, and so far I think most people have said they're staying, what with the Christmas ball and everything. I think the ball started after the last Triwizard tournament, years and years ago. Far before my time.

People liked that ball so much that they started doing them at Hogwarts each Christmas. The Marauders have, of course, decided that they want to leave their legacy, and have been ardently trying, much to everyone's dismay, to do something drastic at the Christmas ball each year. They have, thus far, not done anything bad enough to cancel it indefinitely. In saying that, I'm a bit nervous about this year's dance, especially as two out of four boys hold positions of power amongst the prefects, particularly with James Potter as head boy.

Hopefully Lily will be able to rein him in. She's doing a good job so far of reining in the other prefects for the Christmas ball design team, but James Potter is an enigma of sorts, and I somehow doubt even the great Lily Evans will be able to put a stop to his tomfoolery.

Those four boys really are a piece of work.

I feel sorry for their mothers.

 **Monday**

 **December 8, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

So, it's rather late at night now, but I wanted to write down what just happened before I go to sleep.

It was after dinner, and I was studying in the library (I know, shock horror. Me? In the library?) when I overheard some voices.

Naturally, I recognised them.

I know what you're thinking. Eva? Who are you? How can you just recognise voices from afar? I'll let you in on a little secret. It is a little-known fact that I am actually a super sleuth and am rather good at picking up things that are going on around me.

Hence, I can tell you that the voices belonged to none other than Sirus Black and Remus Lupin. I couldn't actually decipher what they were saying, so I decided to pack up my belongings and move closer to the source. Whatever they were talking about didn't seem to be particularly positive as the tone of both their voices seemed rather strained.

I narrowly avoided tripping over a bookcase and rounded the corner to where they were, a shelf over, talking about who knows what.

"No, I'm fine, Remus, I'm totally fine."

"Well, no, you're not."

Aww, Remus, caring about his friends. Not that I care of course.

"I am actually. I decided to move on, like, months ago. We talked about this."

"I just don't feel comfortable-"

"Moony, it's okay. You're a good friend and a good person. I wouldn't say it was okay if it wasn't okay. I just want you to be happy."

Aww, Black caring about his friends. Not that I care of course. Also, I'm pretty sure he was lying. I've recently noticed his voice seems to raise in pitch when he's lying. It's pretty subtle. Remus probably wouldn't have caught it. As aforementioned: super sleuth.

"Are you sure? Because if you're not then I won't even go near her."

Ooh, it's a her? This is getting more intriguing by the second!

I shuffled closer to better hear what they were saying.

"I told you, I'm-"

Unfortunately for me, as I shuffled closer, I did indeed trip over my own feet and fall into the bookshelf, causing Sirius Black to say a muted, "shh," and peer around the bookshelf at my crumpled form.

"Hullo," I said, laying on the floor, not having moved from where I fell over. I figured there was no point in beating around the bush.

"Evelyn!" Black said, looking at me with wide eyes. "How long exactly have you been listening to our conversation for?"

Remus poked his head around the bookshelf, his face, for some reason, looking awfully panicked.

"Like, not really for any time, I just heard voices and was like 'ooh what's going on in the library, perhaps there's some sort of convention occurring that I was previously unaware of and I shall henceforth investigate whatever sort of thing or situation that might be going on unawares behind and amongst the leather-clad tomes of the written word,' and then I sort of fell over my own feet. As you do."

"That does sound fairly plausible, actually," said Black, shrugging at Remus. "What are we thinking, Moony? Well, just you now, of course."

His voice did that little pitch thing. Also, what?

"Not the place to discuss this, Pad."

"Right," Black said, looking back at me, still laying on the floor. "Need a hand, Evelyn?"

"Oh, actually, that would be good," I said, considering the fact that I couldn't be bothered moving and also the fact that Black has very strong hands. Not, of course, that it matters. He would just be effective at pulling my body up off the floor.

"I can help with that," said Remus, pushing past Black and holding out his hand.

Black raised an eyebrow at me. I grabbed hold of Remus' proffered arm, and he pulled me up off of the ground. I tried not to read anything into it.

"I think it's time we headed back to the Common Room," said Black, picking up the books I had dropped.

The three of us started walking out of the library, one boy standing on either side of me. Black still held my books. For some reason, I felt a bit uncomfortable. The air around us seemed thick with tension.

"So, what have you been up to, today, Eva?" asked Remus.

"Uh, not much. School, quidditch, Hol Buggery was staring at me for a while so I confronted him and turns out the Slytherins are threatening his squib sister, so everything he did for them was out a self-sacrificing kinda mindset, so it's cool and such, but he did ask me not to tell anyone, so."

"What?" said Black and Remus at the same time.

"Can you repeat that last bit for us?" asked Black

"What part?"

"The Hol Buggery part..."

"Oh right!"

Black and Remus shared a look. I knew what that look meant.

"Don't be rude, I'm tired. It's not my day today, just give me a break, boys."

"Eva, just say what happened again," said Black.

"Hol said that the Slytherins are threatening his sister Penelope, who's a squib, and so he had to do all the things they asked him to do, or else they would hurt her."

"We have to tell Dumbledore," said Remus, furrowing his brow. "Poor Hollard. No one deserves to have their family threatened."

"No, Remus, we can't," Black interjected. "Remember what James was talking about? If we tell Dumbledore, then the Slytherins will get punished, and we'll have no idea what they're up to. They'll change their plans. We'll be a step behind. We still haven't found anything about their potion either, so we really can't tell Dumbledore."

"Well what do we do about Hollard then?"

"I don't think there's much we can do. We just use him, I guess. He seems comfortable talking to Eva, so she can check in with him to find out what's going on."

"I guess I don't have much of a choice in this situation, then?" I said.

"Do the muggles Voldemort is slaughtering get much of a choice, Eva?" asked Black, stonily.

"Um, no? Are you alright, Black?"

"Perfectly fine, thank you, Evelyn."

He was not, as he said, perfectly fine. "What's got your knickers in a twist, eh, Black?"

"My knickers aren't in a twist."

Remus snorted.

"Not that I'm wearing knickers. I'm a man. A manly man."

"I think that fact that you had to clarify that in the first place has got us wondering a bit, mate," said Remus, barely concealing a grin.

"Oh, shove off, Remus," said Black, reaching around me to push Remus' shoulder.

"Oh, look, the Fat Lady," I said, as we approached the entrance to the common room, hoping to avoid some sort of lighthearted brawl that I feared was approaching.

"Cutting it close to curfew, I see," said the Fat Lady, looking disapprovingly at us.

"Anything to get your beautiful face all to myself," said Black, winking at her.

The fat lady went red and swung open as Remus muttered the password.

 **Wednesday**

 **December 10, 1977**

 **Prefects' Meeting**

I am so bored. Bored bored bored bored bored. Bored.

I may have helped plan Sirius Black's birthday bash, but that was only out of friendship to Lily. Do not think for a second that I like planning things, especially Christmas balls.

The Christmas ball is the only thing we've been talking about in Prefects' Meeting for weeks now, and I am bored out of my mind.

Yes, Lily, I am aware that we need to enchant mistletoe and holly to dangle from the ceiling. Yes, Lily, I do know how to decorate a Christmas tree. No, Lily, I can't crochet 300 lace snowflakes in two weeks.

"Well I think we should have monkeys," says James Potter, making a halfhearted attempt at a good idea.

"Do you really think that Dumbledore, our esteemed headmaster, would want monkeys at the Christmas ball?" asks Lily, her face turning slightly red.

"Actually, yes," says Potter, not reading the situation as well as he should have.

In hindsight, he's not wrong.

"Well I am not Dumbledore, Potter, and I do NOT want MONKEYS at our Christmas ball!" yells Lily, standing up and banging her gavel on the table.

Remus made the mistake of taking a sip of pumpkin juice at the exact moment Lily yelled the word 'monkeys,' and unfortunately starts choking.

An enraged Lily is now furiously patting him on the back whilst Potter kind of stands there looking bewildered and somewhat frightened.

"Uh, so no monkeys?" He says carefully.

"No monkeys," Lily responds, stopping her possible injuring of Remus who is looking like he'd rather be fine dining with Severus Snape than on the back end of Lily's wrath.

Oh, speaking of Snape, and also Dumbledore, the latter came up to us (us being the previously small groups of Gryffindors that has somehow amalgamated into one large Gryffindor posse) just after dinner and has requested that we come to his office at precisely 8 o'clock sharp tomorrow evening.

For what? I don't know. Well, actually I probably do. The what most likely has something to do with the aforementioned Severus Snape and his gang of goons.

Oh, crap. Lily is sort of death glaring at me so I should probably get back to the whole meeting thing.

Au revoir!

 **Thursday**

 **December 11, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

So.

We've just gotten back from our meeting with Dumbledore, and Marley, Alice, Lily and Lottie have decided that sleeping at a normal hour is the appropriate response to said meeting. I, dear diary, do not consider this to be the most viable option.

The most viable option, is, of course, to write down the events and content of the meeting so that I can reflect upon it when necessary.

There were ten of us that went to the meeting together. Dumbledore had requested we be 'subtle' about it, so we went in pairs so as to not arouse suspicion.

Lily and Potter.

Lottie and Marley.

Peter and Remus.

Alice and Frank.

You know who that leaves?

Exactly.

Black and I left five minutes before Lottie and Marley and five minutes after Peter and Remus, and Black decided the best way would be to get there through as many hidden passages as possible, so as to not arouse suspicion. To be perfectly honest, I do have a love of Hogwarts' secret passages, particularly the ones with good reading nooks, so I wasn't against taking a less conventional route to Dumbledore's office. Plus, it was a good way to show off my super sleuth sneaking techniques.

After much verbal abuse, we arrived at Dumbledore's office, whispering 'fizzing whizbees' at the door, and we headed up toward the inner sanctum, as we appropriately named it.

"Ahh, Mr Black and Miss Bishop, how lovely to have you two joining us today," said Dumbledore, peering over the rim of his half-moon glasses.

To my dismay, the room not only held the figures of Lily, Potter, Peter, Remus, Alice and Frank, but some unfortunate others. Among the faces, I noticed none other than Isadora James, Aislin Murphy (who shot me a death glare of sorts) and Cillian Gallagher, but also Ravenclaws Elena Prinz and Joan Fletcher. Hollie Hindeburg and that one nice Slytherin Hollie Beckham were also there, along with sixth year Gryffindors Dorcas Meadowes, Mary McDonald and Emmeline Vance.

Upon seeing Dorcas, I did an awkward sort of cringe smile and immediately avoided eye contact. Nice save, Eva.

There were a few others there, boys, that is. I just don't really associate with many males so I couldn't really give you their names, but Hufflepuff Ewan MacMillan and Ravenclaw Jason Arnold were the two I could actually name. I was somewhat relieved to see there was no Hollard Buggery.

"I believe we are just waiting on two more students," said Dumbledore as Black and I kind of waddled over to where Lily and Potter were standing. "Ahh, Miss Ansen and Miss McKinnon have now arrived. Let us begin."

Lottie and Marley awkwardly shuffled their way over to the rest of us. It was difficult to move in such a tightly packed room, you see.

"Now, many of you must be wondering why I have asked you to all gather here this evening," Dumbledore began.

"It's Voldemort, right? interrupted Potter.

Ugh, mouthy.

"Whilst you are not incorrect, Mr Potter, I believe it would be best to let me speak without interruption," said Dumbledore.

"Yessir," said Potter, miming a zipping motion over his mouth.

"We are all aware by now that the creature that calls himself Voldemort has been performing a misguided sort of judgement upon those he deems unworthy of magic. Our Ministry, although not blind to this, is not yet willing to make any sort of movement against Voldemort and his followers, which presents a sort of issue for us. I know that many of you here know, or know of someone who has already been affected by these unwarranted attacks, and I believe that all of you here before me possess the abilities to help put a stop to the violence."

"What's that s'posed to mean, Professor Dumbledore Sir?" asked Jason Arnold.

"I, and a select few others, have agreed that the best course of action to make a move against Voldemort, seeing as our government is not willing, is to form a group of competent witches and wizards with the sole task of eradicating this threat before he leaves a wake of destruction too devastation to ever recover from."

"So, like wizard cops?" asked Black, startling me. He had been awfully quiet the whole time Dumbledore was speaking.

"Quite, Mr Black. Perhaps slightly more nuanced than you are suggesting," said Dumbledore.

"Will it be dangerous?" squeaked Peter. That's right. Squeaked.

Dumbledore peered at him for a second before responding, "It's quite likely that this endeavour will be an endangerment to your lives. I don't want to sugarcoat it for anyone, as if you agree to partake in this group of 'wizard cops' then you are agreeing to risk your life for the rest of wizardkind. I would like you to know exactly what you would be signing up for."

At that point, everyone started talking over each other until Lily interrupted with a much needed, "Could everyone please shut up and let us talk about it like civilised people?"

Aislin Murphy was the first to speak, saying, "Well if you want us to stop Voldemort then why is she here?" with a point look at Hollie Beckham.

"Excuse me, Murphy," said Hollie with a glare. "My family has nothing to do with that monster and his followers."

"Yeah, but you're a Slytherin," said Joan Fletcher. "Won't you tell all your Slytherin friends about what we're up to?"

"Shut up, Fletcher," said Hollie with a scowl. "That's just plain dumb. I barely talk to any of them anyway, and besides, not all Slytherins are the spawn of Satan, just like you've proven today not all Ravenclaws are intelligent."

"Well-"

"Students," said Dumbledore, his loud voice silencing the oncoming argument. "Starting petty fights over things like this does not bring unity, and indeed promotes the values that Voldemort himself holds. Those who decide to become part of this organisation should not let House rivalries get in the way of working together as a team, else we become too busy fighting amongst one another to fight against the real evil."

"So how do we become a part of this organisation, then?" asked Potter, unsurprisingly.

"I shall give you all time to think on it, replied Dumbledore, "for it is not a simple thing to accept. You must weigh what is most important to you before coming to a decision. Then, and only then, will the decision be made."

"So where do we sign up?" asked Potter again.

"It will be made clear to you," Dumbledore said, moving toward the door. "In the meantime, I ask that you not breathe a word of this meeting to anyone who was not here themselves. Merely mentioning it brings risk upon not only the lives of the people in this room, but upon the students in this school and upon you and your families. It would be best to act as if we had never talked. If by any chance, another student has already become aware of this gathering, I believe we should say that you have all been in attendance of career counselling. Are we agreed?"

We all sort of stared at Dumbledore.

"Are we agreed?" he repeated, holding the door open.

I nodded mutely to a chorus of yesses.

"Then I shall see you when the time comes," Dumbledore finished.

We all trailed out the door, whispering amongst ourselves.

"What on earth did he mean by 'it will be made clear to you?'" whispered Potter as we shuffled down the stairs.

"I guess we'll find out," said Remus, putting his hand on the shoulder of an ill-looking Peter.

"Well I, for one, think he's crazy," said Jason Arnold.

"He might be crazy, but he's not wrong," hissed Isadora James. "Voldemort's a psycho."

For the first time in forever, I think I agree with her.

We reached the bottom of the stairs and split into our respective groups, heading back toward our common rooms.

As you've already heard, the girls decided to go straight to bed, but I, for one cannot sleep.

I can't help but think what will happen to us if we decide to join?

Perhaps a more pressing thought, however: what will happen to us if we don't?

 _ **AN: HEY PALS! New chapter! Thank you all for putting up with my slow updates I promise I love all of you!**_

 _ **A bit of intrigue in this chapter... I don't believe in filler chapters and think all chapters play a necessary part in developing the story, so although it's not particularly full of Bleva or banter, it's still an integral part to the story!**_

 _ **Although the main overarching plot has been planned out, each chapter there is room for smaller plots to be developed, so out of the following characters, who would you like to see more of? Let me know in the comments, because I'll be sure to add more scenes with them.**_

 _ **Isadora James, Aislin Murphy, Elena Prinz, Hollie Beckham, Regulus Black, Dorcas Meadowes, Marlene McKinnon, Alice Sturnam, Frank Longbottom, Mark Abery, Louise McKendrick... any other side characters that you have an interest or investment in?**_

 _ **Thank you to everyone who takes the time to vote and comment on my story - I love seeing your reactions to all of Eva's crazy antics!**_

 _ **Love you all**_

 _ **OXO**_


	24. The Reigning Lily Evans

**Saturday**

 **December 13, 1977**

 **Great Hall**

"Is it just me, or is Remus acting weird?" I asked Marley who was sitting across from me.

It is lunch and Lily is currently forcing Lottie to study for her makeup Potions test, so I decided to avoid that negativity by spending lunch with Marley.

"Weird?" Marley said, glancing down the table at the four boys. They were talking and laughing as usual, but Remus kept giving little glances back at us. He hadn't even choked on his pumpkin juice once.

"Yeah, weird," I said. "He's been heaps more talkative lately, and he asked me about the diary he bought me for my birthday. It's not like specifically unusual behaviour, it's just different than it usually is."

"Aren't you trying to move on from the whole Remus thing?" asked Marley, raising an eyebrow. "Pretty sure this is just an overly invested viewpoint trying to explain normal friendly activity."

"Well, actually, I have been trying, and I am mostly succeeding, thank you very much. In fact, one could say I _am_ moved on. It's been what, almost three weeks now?"

"Right," said Marley, unconvinced.

"Ever since I found out that he..." I decided to stop there before I said anything else

"You found out he, what?" asked Marley. "You do know you stopped in the middle of a sentence, right? That's not how sentences work."

I figured I probably shouldn't mention the whole 'werewolf' thing, seeing as Remus freaked out about me knowing and all. Also, he asked me not to say anything and this time I swear I am not going to say anything to anyone. Even Black. Who probably definitely already knows. Actually now that I think about it Remus did say that the boys know about it, which is crazy. I can't believe Black kept this secret from me for so long! And he says we're friends and everything.

Anyway, I have digressed too long.

"I know how sentences work," I said indignantly. "I just decided not to finish that one for personal reasons. So, as I was saying, ever since Remus and I had a conversation about a _thing_ that happened he's been weird around me. I'm quite observant you know, so I can pick up on these things."

Marley, for some reason, snorted into her sandwich.

"What's funny about that?"

"Oh, nothing... Nothing... Just, you. Quite... Observant."

Now Marley was being weird too.

"Can you just stop whatever you're laughing at for a second and listen? He's being weird and I don't know what to do!"

"Just chill, Eva. He probably found out you were in love with him for so long and now he doesn't know how to act around you. That's the only reasonable explanation I can think of for him being 'weird' as you say. Do with my opinion as you will."

Marley's opinion was a sobering thought. Could Remus really know? I mean, the girls did say it was kind of obvious. _Merlin._ This is not good. I think my best bet is to just avoid him for as long as possible. That's reasonable, right? I don't need this negativity in my life right now.

I glance over to where the boys are sitting and accidentally make eye contact with Remus, who goes slightly pink and quickly takes a sip of his pumpkin juice. _Oh no._ He definitely knows.

"Eva? Eva. Are you okay?" Marley interrupts my train of thought.

"What?"

"You looked panicked, so..."

"I'm fine. Fine, fine, fine," I say nonchalantly. (Nice word usage, Eva). "Tell me about your life, Marls."

"Um, I feel like you're trying to change the sub-"

"Just tell me about your life, okay?"

Marley looks concerned but proceeds to start talking about her life. Not, of course, that I can really concentrate on it.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts, blah blah blah, Cassie, blah blah blah, Dumbledore blah blah blah."

Well, she said something like that, anyway. Probably wasn't very interesting. What is more interesting is this whole Remus situation.

If he really does know how I felt about him then that poses at least one issue.

 _ **An Incomplete List of the Possible Consequences of One Remus J. Lupin Discovering One Evelyn K. O. Bishop's Previous Feelings Toward His Person**_

 **1.** Our friendship will be ruined. Remus will be too embarrassed to ever talk to me again and so even though I have moved on and all he will forever see me as that girl who loved him.

 **2.** Death. No need to explain this one as I feel it's fairly obvious.

 **3.** Mortification so deep that I will have to become a nun and move to Guam. Yes, Guam. I hope they have nuns there.

 **4.** Potter and his gang would inevitably find out and tell the whole school. See point number 3.

 **5.** Puis-je répéter que la mort serait un problème?

 **6.** Black would find out and inevitably make fun of me for the rest of my entire life.

As you can see, there are clearly a lot of drastically bad issues that would come up if Remus were to know about my past feelings. Emphasis on past. See? Moved on.

Speaking of moving on, Marley's beginning to look at me with a funny expression so I think it's best if I move on out of the Great Hall.

 _Ta ta, diary._

 **Wednesday**

 **December 17, 1977**

 **Prefects' Meeting**

I have successfully managed to avoid Remus over the past four days, much to most of my friends' dismay. I have discovered that the issue with avoiding Remus is that it means I have to avoid the rest of my friends, seeing as the four lads are joined at the hip, Lily and Potter will not stop snogging, and Lottie is of course wherever Lily is. This, therefore, has presented a rather large issue for me.

I find that at times I'm not the most social of people and can be somewhat difficult to get along with, but that's basically true for all people, so... The thing is, is that I actually quite like hanging out with my friends, and at first I was a bit upset about this whole new extended Gryffindor group (occasionally featuring Frank) but I've actually come to quite enjoy it.

Just a little bit.

Don't tell Black, because it has nothing to do with his annoying face.

I don't even know why I brought him up really, he's just been particularly Black-ish lately and it's been bugging me. Anyway.

The issue with avoiding Remus is that for the better part of each day I have to also avoid my friends. There's only so much homework I can get done, what with it being holidays and all. I have, however, successfully gone down to the Black Lake and had some calming naps. I also had another study session with Mark Abery, who, I am happy to say, is much improved with charms. I didn't pry into his personal life and the weird sad love triangle thing he's got going on (imagine being in love with someone who's into another person, right?) but I'm sure it will come back up again at some point.

"Eva, are you even listening?" asks Lily, interrupting my train of thought.

"Um, yes?" Dammit Lily, now there's fifthys staring at me.

"Then what did I _just say?_ " Lily narrows her eyes at me.

"You just said 'Eva are you even listening'," I say. Smart move, right?

"Don't be a git, Eva," says Lily, kicking my leg under the table. "As I was saying, can I confirm that you are all good to be in charge of making sure we have all the decorations? I've still got to organise the band and a couple of other things so I need you to be all over it. Can I count on you?"

"Yessir," I say. Regardless of whether or not she can count on me it's probably better to just say yes.

"You'll need some help, Eva. How about-"

I interrupt Lily before she can say Remus' name. I can see her turning toward him and his face going red again so I know that it is a _bad idea_ to let her say anything further _._ "-Potter! What a marvellous idea, Lils."

"What?" Lily and Potter say at the same time, raising their eyebrows and glancing at each other.

"I mean, sure, if you want?" says Lily hesitantly. "Are you certain?"

"Hundred percent," I say. "Sounds fun, doesn't it, Potter."

"Well-"

"Great, it's settled. Shall we be off then?"

"I suppose?" says Potter, still looking like a deer caught in headlights.

What have I gotten myself into?

 **Wednesday**

 **December 17, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

So... update on the whole James Potter situation.

Tonight has been eventful, to say the least. Now, I just want to preface this recount by saying that the whole entire purpose of choosing James Potter as my party planning partner was to avoid having to spend any time with Remus, who would probably say something along the lines of, "Oh, Eva, by the way, heard you were madly in love with me for like a solid period in your life, and that's chill and all, except that it's not, so now never look at me again or I'm going to think you're planning the names of our future children."

I didn't intend to actually spend time with this boy who calls himself Lily's boyfriend, or whatever, but alas. This is what my life is like now, apparently.

So, I kind of half-dragged James Potter out of the room with me, much to the confusion of the masses. Also, side note, you probably notice I'm writing 'James Potter,' and not just 'Potter,' but we'll come to that part of the story at a later date.

Right then, James Potter and I strolled casually and friendly-ly (friendly-ish? What is the appropriate word to use here?) out of the Prefects' meeting to go gather decorations and such, and I thought we were all hunky-dory, but he seemed to think it necessary to kind of pull our happy gathering to a halt midway down the hallway and ask, "Uh, Bishop, what are you playing at here?"

"Excuse me, Potter? What do you mean by this question?"

"I didn't think we were, well, friends as such? Not of course that I don't like you, because you definitely have some swell qualities, but I just didn't really think we were on that level of connection yet?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Potter," I said. This, as _we_ know, was not true.

"Oh, I think you do," said Potter, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not an idiot. Two of my mates certainly are, but I, young lady, am not."

"I don't follow..."

"Why are you avoiding Remus?" asked Potter, straight out.

"I most certainly am not," I spluttered, continuing my journey down the hallway, not waiting for Potter to follow along.

"Well, that's the only plausible explanation," said Potter, jogging to catch up. "You're not the most friendly of people, so your partner options are kind of limited. Although, you could have gone with Frank Longbottom or either of the Hollies, ah, except, they were already assigned tasks by the reigning Lily Evans. Therefore, your only options would have been Remus and I, partly because Lily would have automatically assumed you would have wanted to be partnered with Remus, and partly because Lily has to oversee everything and can't be partnered with you herself. Hence, the only logical explanation for you choosing me as your party planning partner is because you don't want to be with Remus. This, of course, is strange, because you and Remus are mates, and you and I are sort-of mates, which means the clear option would have been to go with Remus, but as aforementioned, you did not pick him as your partner. In conclusion, the only reason you would not have picked Remus is because you are avoiding him, for whatever reason. How's that sound for a hypothesis?"

"Eughkkljkl," I said, as eloquently as possible.

"I'll take that as a confirmation of my hypothesis," Potter grinned.

"Shut up, Potter."

"Now, that's not a very nice thing to say to your new best friend, is it, Evelyn?"

"Well, as you mentioned before, Potter, we're only sort-of mates, aren't we."

Potter gasped in horror. "I can't believe you would say that to my face! Especially after I just so eloquently described an issue that is occurring in your life, observing as only a friend would, and offering my support."

I blinked at him and kept walking.

"Okay, seriously though. I know you don't have to talk to me about it, but if you want to, I'm here. Plus, I'm super great at keeping secrets. I didn't tell anyone that Lily and I had been snogging until she decided to tell people. Prime example of a prime friend. Besides, I have a knowledge of both you and Remus, so I might be able to add some insight into whatever is going on between you two."

I mean, he sort of had a point.

Lily had been so busy with planning everything that I haven't really had time to talk to her about it, and Lottie's been busy studying for her Potions test, and I can' talk to Black about it for obvious reasons.

'Well," I said. "First of all, I'm only telling you because I'm currently out of options."

"Oh, wait, really?" said Potter, his face lighting up. "I didn't think you were actually going to tell me."

"If you don't shut up then I definitely won't."

"Fair call, shutting up."

"The thing is, well, it's kind of embarrassing to say, but I liked Remus, past tense, for a really long time."

"You don't say?" said Potter.

"Seriously? You knew too?"

"And I didn't say a word. See? Great at keeping secrets."

I heaved a sigh. Why is my life this way?

"Anyway, he's been acting weird around me lately, and so I think he knows, and so I don't want to talk to him."

Potter paused, as if thinking of the most appropriate response. "Well, the thing is," he said, "I really would like to give you advice, but as someone who knows both sides of the situation, I think my best bet is to stay out of it entirely?"

"What?" I said, completely aghast. "You mean you know what Remus is thinking? Does he know? What does he think? What do I do?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down," Potter said, putting his hands up in front of him. "I literally just said I need to stay out of it, which means, I can't comment on it at all. In an attempt to stop this freak-out in the making, I'm just going to say, I think that you should probably just talk to him. This whole thing is complicated enough without you stressing out."

"Potter, I am far beyond the point of stressed out!"

"That seems like a correct statement."

"Precisely! So you're telling me that you know what Remus is thinking or what he knows or that he knows? What does Remus know? Anyway, you're telling me that you know something and you're not going to help me?"

"Evelyn, I literally just said you should go and talk to him! That's helping!"

"Talk to him? I can't just go and _talk_ to him! What kind of advice is that? What, next time are you going to say I should have just confessed my feelings to him in the first place to avoid all this?"

"Actually," Potter said, "that probably would have been helpful and you would be far less stressed right now."

"What? That was _clearly_ a joke! That was me making fun of your dumb advice! Who do you think I am, some sort of, I dunno, Casanova?"

"No, I very much do not think that. I was just, you know, spitballing, throwing some ideas out. You seem to not like my ideas, which knowing who you are as a person I probably should have expected that outcome."

"Thank you, Potter." What an idiot.

"You know what, Evelyn?"

"What?"

"I think it's time."

"Time for what?"

"Time that we called each other by our proper names. We're all adults here. Plus, I feel like this thing with Lily is pretty permanent and we'll be in each others lives for a while, so... Thoughts?"

"Are you trying to change the subject, Potter, because it's not helping."

"Actually I was being serious. Come on, we're mates now? Right? I wrote poetry for your birthday and everything."

"Please never bring that up again, that was a horrific experience."

"That's fair, that's fair," said Potter, nodding his head. "I still think the names thing is a good idea. Besides, we have this whole decorations thing to sort out now, so we'll be hanging out together now anyway! It's more fun when you're friends!"

In hindsight, I probably should have paid more attention to the fact that he was clearly trying to change the subject, but, for lack of my better judgement, I gave in to his request. Why not, right? I'm growing as a person. I'm friends with Black now, I can be friends with James Potter, can't I?

"Alright, fine," I said, sticking out my hand.

"Oh, okay, we're doing this," he said, brightening. "Eva." he shook my hand.

"James Potter."

"Ahh, we might want to try that one that again," James Potter said, raising an eyebrow.

"...James." I shook his hand.

"Excellent! What fun! Now that we've got that out of the way, let's go get these decorations then, shall we?"

So... that's the whole James Potter story. I know I agreed to the whole first name thing, but it's more difficult than I first imagined, so I'm gonna stick with James Potter for now and the maybe switch it out one day. It depends on how much he bullies me to do it.

Anyway, that was only the first eventful part of the night.

That's right, there was a second, hidden part that I didn't hint at whatsoever in order to surprise you! Storytelling right there, folks!

After James Potter and I sorted out all of the decorations for Lily, it was nearing curfew, so I said farewell and then went back to the Common Room. James Potter went to go find Lily, (he said it was for party planning but it was probably for snogging) so I was all alone stepping through the portrait hole.

By the time I got back to the Common Room it was definitely past curfew, so everyone was in bed, bar one black-haired gentleman sitting on the sofa in front of the fire.

He looked up at me as I walked in, and he seemed surprised to see me.

"Evelyn!" Black said, raising a hand, "I thought you would still be party planning with Remus?"

"Oh, no," I said, "My party planning partner is James Potter."

"Really?" said Black, looking awfully surprised. "I figured you would be with Remus by now. You've been avoiding me of late, I noticed."

"Um, false on both accounts," I said indignantly. "I didn't want to be with Remus, hence James Potter, and it's not you I've been avoiding, so get off your high horse, please?"

"Huh," he said, turning back to the fire. "The plot thickens."

"Your plot thickens," I muttered.

Black chuckled. "You're a bit odd, you know?"

"Said the pot to the kettle!"

"I never said it was a bad thing. In fact, one could argue that it's part of your overall charm." Black patted the spot next to him on the sofa. "Come, sit. Chat with an old pal, would you?"

What? This had never happened before. I figured that seeing as I had extended a boon to James Potter I could extend one to Sirius Black. I slowly walked over and sat on the other side of the sofa.

"Again!" he exclaimed, "That was not the expected outcome!"

"I'm in an unexpected mood, so take advantage of it as it might not happen again."

"Alright, I shall." Black's gleeful expression slowly turned more pensive as he asked the following question: "Eva, say, hypothetically, someone you care about, but have a rocky history with, is dabbling in a dangerous area, and you want to help them because you care about them and don't want them to get hurt in this dangerous area but you don't want to risk damaging the relationship any further, and breaching the topic itself could make this hypothetical person delve deeper into this hypothetical area, what do you do?"

"That's awfully specific for a hypothetical question," I said.

"It's just specifically hypothetical."

"Well, say this was a situation that I hypothetically found myself in, I would probably weigh up the pros and cons of each option. Does the definite risk of never talking to this person about it and them inevitably getting hurt outweigh the possible risk of damaging your relationship with them?"

"Huh," he said. "That's a good point. But what if your relationship with this person isn't really that good at the moment, and you know that there is a high chance of it getting worse and them hurting themselves even more if you approach it with them."

This conversation was not something I had anticipated on a Wednesday night, and so I didn't really know what to say. "Honestly, I don't know the specifics of your relationship with this _hypothetical_ person, so I don't really know what to tell you. All I can say is that you seem to be a good judge of character, and a brave and a loyal friend, so in the end, will you regret saying something to them and it possibly getting worse, or never saying anything at all, and it definitely getting worse."

"I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me," Black said, looking at me seriously. "Thanks. I appreciate the advice."

"I'm glad. James Potter just gave me the most horrendous advice ever, so I'm happy it hasn't rubbed off on me."

"Really?" Black laughed. "Are you sure it wasn't good advice and you just didn't want to hear it? What was it about?"

"Oh, just, nothing. I don't want to talk about it. Besides, I should probably get to bed."

"Okay, that's cool, you don't need to tell me," Black said, standing up. He offered me a hand and pulled me off of the sofa. "Goodnight, Evelyn."

"Night, Black."

"Sweet dreams!" he said as I was walking up the staircase. I decided my best bet would be to smile and ignore him.

 **Thursday**

 **December 18, 1977**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

 _OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH OH MY SWEET MERLIN ON A CHRISTMAS CRACKER COVERED IN CALLOUS COCKLE SHELLS AND CONSTANT CACKLING!_

Eva. Just breathe. Relax.

Let the quill and ink flow freely before you.

Just write it down. It's not too hard.

You have written words plenty of times before.

Start with the beginning. What were you doing?

Thursday night prefect patrol.

Okay, who were you with, and why?

Remus. I had to be with Remus because it was our turn on the roster. James Potter just raised an eyebrow at me when I asked him to swap. The reigning Lily Evans had the nerve to laugh.

What happened?

We went on Prefect patrol, and then he said specific things to me.

A bit more detail, please? And by a bit, I mean, tell the bloody story, Evelyn.

Fine, if I must.

So, Remus and I met at the portrait hole for our patrol. It was fairly awkward at first because Remus kept avoiding all forms of eye contact and I was also avoiding all forms of eye contact. Our conversation went a bit like this:

"Hi Remus."

"Hi Eva."

After that, for probably the first hour, we walked in complete silence. That's right. Complete and utter silence. It was horrible. It was the absolute worst.

We got to about a point halfway down the fourth floor Transfiguration corridor when Remus stopped and gave a loud sigh.

"Eva, I have to say something. You might not like it, but I have to say something, and if I don't say it then I might burst because I can't handle whatever it is that we're doing right now. You can sit down if you'd like." He gestured to the nearby bench.

I sat down.

Oh no. Was he going to tell me we can't be friends anymore? Oh no. My whole body hurts from the anxiety. I feel sick. Am I going to faint? Am I going to die?

"Well, I guess it all starts after that whole time I almost killed you? Remember that?"

I nodded. I definitely remember that.

"Right. I didn't really think you would have forgotten, but I thought I'd remind you anyway. Oh, Merlin, I'm not saying this correctly at all. I'll just start again. So, it was at that time, where I thought that you would hate me, and I really enjoy spending time with you, so I didn't want that to happen. When you said all those things to me about not thinking of me any different, I realised how much that actually meant to me. I know it's not been that long since Dorcas, but I just came to this massive realisation, and I don't think I can just keep pretending I don't care. I thought that no one, well, no girl, could ever see me for who I am, despite the creature that dwells within me, but you do. You are smart, and funny, and you care about people, and I didn't notice for so long, but you've always supported me and been there for me."

Remus took a deep breath, probably to try and get some of the blood that had rushed to his face to circulate into the rest of his body.

What is happening right now?

"What I'm trying to say, Eva, trying to say really badly, and I know you probably don't feel the same way, and you might never talk to me again after this, which is fine, but I like you. As more than a friend. And I just needed you to know."

You know when you're reading into a situation, and you're reading it very incorrectly, so you're totally blindsided when the correct thing comes out, and you just kind of sit there like a panicked fish opening and closing your mouth?

Yeah. That was me.

"Um... I don't know what I'm supposed to do now," said Remus. "I think I'll just go. This was a mistake. I'm sorry."

Remus started walking very quickly down the hallway as I tried to process what he had just told me.

"Wait, Remus!" I said, standing up. He didn't hear me, he had walked too far down the corridor.

I ran after him, trying to catch up.

He turned around and waited as a took a moment to catch my breath.

"Remus, I-"

"You don't feel the same way, and that's fine, I totally guessed that," he said, awkwardly trying to smile."

"No, that's just it. I did, I mean, I do."

"What?" he said.

I took a step toward him, placed a hand on his very warm cheek and leaned in. Wait. What am I doing?

I paused, staring at him.

He stared back.

And then he leaned in and kissed me.

 _ **AN: I was screaming while writing this chapter and I AM STILL SCREAMING. Too many feels, right? I don't know who to ship her with any more. I am terrible, and I apologise.**_

 _ **On another note, I love you all, thank you for reading this travesty of an emotional journey.**_

 _ **Love you!**_

 _ **OXO**_


	25. Crisis to the Power of Four

Friday

December 19, 1977

Great Hall

So, I think I should probably address what happened in my last diary entry.

At the time of writing it, I was in a certain mixed state of shock and disbelief and decided it would be in my best interest to leave at the point where I left it so as to avoid overthinking literally everything that had just occurred. This, of course, did not prevent me overthinking it whatsoever.

What happened after he snogged me, you ask?

I think from memory - it's a bit hazy now - we just sort of stood there staring at each other for a bit.

It was sort of surreal, I suppose. There I was, having spent all this time obsessed with this boy, and then decided to move on and doing a really good job of it, by the way, now kissing this same boy who decided that I was now suddenly worth his effort.

That makes it sound bad, or like I didn't want him to kiss me, which is not true. Mostly? I don't know. I'm still conflicted about it.

Why are you conflicted about it, you ask?

It's not like I'm super conflicted or anything, it's just like a tiny minuscule inkling of conflict due to the fact that I had actually sort of started to move on, and now I had to readjust my whole perspective of the situation.

Speaking of, I never actually finished the story.

So I was stood there, staring at him, both our faces probably bright red, when he nodded at me, shook my hand, and walked off. Mind you, we still had more patrolling to do, but he didn't seem to care apparently.

What sort of lad snogs a girl and then shakes her bloody hand? He'd just spent the past five minutes spluttering out his new sudden feelings for me and then bloody walked away after we BLOODY SNOGGED.

Oh. Right. There's the conflicted feelings coming in.

After Remus walked off and left me standing there in the corridor I decided that if he wasn't going to finish patrol then I bloody well was going to finish it, much like a responsible adult would. I stuck it out until it was over, and then sort of raced into the common room like a madman and rushed up the stairs into my dormitory.

"Lily, wake up!" I whisper shouted, jumping on Lily's bed and shaking her less gently than I had initially planned.

"Whasgoinon?" Lily said, rubbing her bleary eyes.

"Remus snogged me in the hallway!"

"Alright, I'm awake," Lily sat up straight. "Wait, did you say that just to get my attention or were you serious?"

"I'm serious! (well, actually, no. I'm Eva.) Remus confessed his feelings for me, snogged me, and then walked off with no explanation!"

"He bloody what?!" Lily exclaimed, causing the rest of dorm to yell a mixture of things from 'shut up' to 'is it the apocalypse?'

"Remus snogged Eva and then walked off!" Lily shouted as if trying to process the information. In her defence, it was some hefty information to process.

Within seconds there was a flurry of feet as the rest of the girls leapt out of their beds and onto Lily's.

"Okay, Eve, you're gonna have to rewind and tell us the whole story from the beginning," said Marley, bouncing up and down.

I proceeded to recount the events of the evening.

"Whoa," Marley said after I'd finished my tale. "What does that even mean? Why did that even happen?"

"What do you mean 'why did it happen?'"

"No, I just mean... You made a big show of moving on, and this does seem relatively soon after Remus' breakup, so..."

"Marley does make a good point," said Alice. "Have you thought this through?"

"Clearly I have not thought this through, the whole thing happened literally ten minutes ago!"

"Yikes, Eva, no need to yell," said Lily, surprisingly calm. "We are all completely supportive of you and what happened, aren't we girls..." Lily narrowed her eyes at Marley and Alice.

At least Lily had my back.

"So, what are you going to do?" asked Lottie, piping in at last.

"I was hoping you lot might be able to help me with that."

You know what this calls for? A list!

A Complete List of all of the Viable Options for one Evelyn K. O. Bishop concerning the Matter of one Remus J. Lupin Snogging Her in the Hallway after Confessing His Feelings, Compiled by Lily E. Evans, Charlotte A. Anson, Marlene McKinnon, and Alice V. Sturnam.

1\. Cry.

2\. Run after him?

3\. Regret running after him?

4\. Have one Lily E. Evans hex him so he turns orange and squeaks like a Cornish pixie for a week.

5\. Cry some more?

6\. Dig a hole and burrow down into the so-called 'Chamber of Secrets' and live there forever with Slytherin's monster.

7\. Happy cry!

8\. Consider the fact that one Evelyn K. O. Bishop's 'dream guy' snogged her in the hallway and CELEBRATE it! Running off? Who cares? SNOGGING!

9\. Ask one Sirius O. Black what he thinks about all of this and get his very non-biased opinion on the whole series of events. One Evelyn K. O. Bishops suggests that one Marlene McKinnon's suggestion is terrible. One Marlene McKinnon would like to inquire as to why one Evelyn K. O. Bishop has an issue discussing the situation with one Sirius O. Black. One Evelyn K. O. Bishop would like to suggest one Marlene McKinnon should shut her mouth. One-

10\. Has dying been mentioned yet? Because it should have been at the top of the list.

"Okay, Eva, honestly, this list is terrible," said Lily after everyone had finished making their suggestions. "You just need to talk to him about it. Clearly he likes you, and clearly, you like him, so just talk about it! Besides, we have the Christmas Ball coming up next week and although holds no comparison to my handsome beau, Remus would make a rather dashing date, do we all agree girls?"

"Well-" said Marley, before being gently slapped by Alice.

After we all finalised our list it was dictated by Lily that we weren't going to sort anything out when we were all clearly so tired and freshly excited, so we would discuss it further in the morning.

It is now the morning.

There has been zero discussion.

This is mostly due to the fact that I woke up before everyone else and decided to go to the Great Hall early for breakfast.

There has also been a lack of discussion seeing as my breakfast mates are Dorcas TB and Sirius Black.

I felt it would be inappropriate to discuss last night's events with Dorcas TB, seeing as how she was quite recently snogging Remus herself, and as for Sirius Black, I just decided I didn't need him unnecessarily teasing me about it. Also, it would be weird to talk to him about it, just because of who he is as a person and all.

In other words, we're all sitting here painfully silent, and I'm trying to avoid talking to anyone by writing in my diary.

"So..." says Black after a while, finally breaking the awkward silence. "The annual Christmas ball, huh? We all looking forward to it?"

Dorcas lifts her head from her porridge and squints at him. "Is this a trick question?"

"...No?"

"Everyone always looks forward to the Christmas ball, Sirius."

Black raised his eyebrows. "Fair point, Dorcas."

"I, for one," I said, "am looking forward to it being over, seeing as Lily has me working like a dog to get it ready, and I don't like the amount of work it is taking to pull together, and at this moment in time, nor dogs."

Black placed his hand over his heart in dismay. "You don't... like dogs, Evelyn? Since when? I thought you loved dogs! Small, fluffy dogs, medium, scrawny dogs, large, black dogs?"

"It was a comment more specific to that latter dog you mentioned."

Black genuinely looked affronted now. "I must admit, I am feeling quite attacked right now by your mean comments regarding large, black dogs, Evelyn. What did a large, black dog ever do to you?"

"Is this another trick question? So much, Black. So, so much."

What did he expect? I'm already in a bad mood and he has the blatant audacity to start talking to me? Ridiculous. I won't stand for it.

"Okay I'm starting to feel like one, I'm missing something, two, I'm no longer a welcome part of this conversation and three, you guys have some weird kinda chemistry you've gotta sort out at some point," Dorcas TB said, finishing her bowl of porridge.

"Shut up, Dorcas," I said.

"Sheesh, Bishop," said Dorcas TB, frowning and stepping away from the table. "Why so grouchy this morning?"

"Sorry," I muttered. "Just had a thing occur recently and I think it's affecting my mood."

"Well this mood of yours isn't really working for me, so let me know when you've got that sorted," said Dorcas TB, raising a hand in farewell and leaving the Great Hall.

Probably one of her better ideas.

After Dorcas TB left our little gathering, Black and I sat in uncomfortable silence until he thought he would make it more uncomfortable by opening his mouth.

"So... what's this thing that happened?" asked Black.

"I don't want to talk about it, Black."

"Well clearly it's bothering you, I mean you're going as far as insulting dogs, which quite frankly, is ridiculous. I know you love dogs."

I scowled at him from across the table. "Don't you have something else to do aside from bothering me?"

"Well, actually, I'm still in the middle of eating my breakfast," he gestured to his pancakes, "but I do actually want to make sure you're alright. Remember that time we decided we were friends?"

"Unfortunately."

"Yikes," said Black, raising his eyebrows. "I think I'm gonna go too."

He started standing up but in a flash of what I am unable to discern as inspiration or foolishness, I begrudgingly said, "Wait, don't leave. I'll tell you."

He raised an eyebrow at me but slowly sat down again. I swear all he does is raise his eyebrows. Doesn't he have anything better to do? Touch his hair, probably.

"A thing occurred last night that was very confusing and I don't know what it means or how to feel about it so I am in a bad mood. Also, the person that did the thing just kind of shook my hand afterwards and ran off, which is kind of rude, considering the nature of the thing."

"Normally I'm fairly alright at understanding your rambles, Eva, but this time you gotta be more specific."

Agh. A good friend would know exactly what I'm saying.

I squinted at him across the table. "I've considered it and I don't want to tell you after all."

"Wait, no!" he said, his knife and fork cluttering on the table as he dropped them, causing someone over on the Ravenclaw table to utter a loud 'Oi!'. "Sorry!" Black said, before turning back to me and adamantly saying, "You can't just say that and then not tell me the whole story! What kind of business are you playing at?"

"Fine," I said. He did have a point.

You know that feeling when you've gone in too deep to something you didn't really think too much about when you decided to do it and then there's no way to get out of it and you feel like screwing your face up and yelling really loudly and also removing your stomach from your body? Yeah. I've got that feeling. Too late now though.

"Well, the thing that it was that happened, is that Remuskissedme."

I said the last part really quickly.

Black looked pained. "Okay, so you're gonna have to say that again, because I didn't quite hear-"

"Remus kissed me last night and then shook my hand and walked off."

"Oh."

I couldn't quite tell how he was reacting because it seemed like twelve different emotions were fluttering across his face at once. Not, of course, that I expected or wanted him to react in a specific way.

"That's fun," he said at last.

"It's actually not."

"Yeah. Sorry. That was a bad response on my part," he said. "Just processing. Not, of course, that I need to really process anything for my own personal benefit."

"Of course," I said, and found myself looking directly at him, "and I also don't really need you to process anything for your own personal benefit either because both of us know this doesn't actually affect you and I'm only telling you this because you asked me to."

"Right," Black said, holding my gaze. "This has nothing to do with me whatsoever."

"Right."

I suddenly felt a deep sinking feeling in my stomach, and I wasn't sure why.

"I'm sorry, I've got to go," I said.

I wasn't sure why, but I just couldn't talk to him about it any longer. It was bad enough that I'd told him in the first place.

"Right," he said again, then shaking his head as if waking up from a dream. "Well, good luck, and all. Remus is a top lad."

"Well, thanks," I said, and fled.

Sunday

December 21, 1977

Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory

It's been two days since my last entry and I don't have much to report.

Oh, except that on the way out of the Great Hall that Friday morning I ran straight into Remus.

"Morning, Eva," he said, looking a little bit like a frog that had been holding its breath for too long.

"Morning, Remus."

"So about last night," he said, getting straight into it. Honestly, I was glad he came right out with it because I was fair worried that he'd chicken out and pretend it didn't happen.

"I'm rather sorry about that whole handshaking incident, I don't really know what came over me. It was probably the shock of it all. I didn't really expect any of that to happen at all, so."

"Oh, no, it's no worry." Except, of course, it was a worry, because what had I been doing all night and all morning? I couldn't let Remus know though.

"Well, that's good then. Anyhow, my question is would you like to go to the Christmas Ball with me? You don't have to, but, I thought that, well, you looked like you were going to kiss me, and then you didn't, so I kissed you, and you didn't seem to be complaining about it, so I thought that perhaps you'd like to-"

"Of course," I said quickly, cutting off his digression. "I would be honoured, Remus."

For some reason, I had the same kind of sick feeling I'd felt early that morning, except just slightly different.

"Oh, really? Well, that's grand! See you later, I s'pose," he said, walking off with a bright red face.

At least he didn't shake my hand that time.

Anyway, that's that then. Lily thinks it's a good thing that this all happened. Lottie's not so sure. Me? Well, this must be good, because I've wanted this for so long. Remus is my ideal man.

On another note, Lily decided last minute to organise a Secret Santa, and I've got Lottie. My plan so far is to get her something that's a combines the Phoenix Fiends and eggs because what would she want more, right? Perhaps I could buy her a puffskein?

Speaking of Christmas, the ball is almost upon us, and mine and James Potter's part is all sorted, mostly due to James' fear that Lily will break up with him and chew on his heart if he doesn't do exactly what she pleases. It's giving me some time to work on my assignments before the holidays are over, which is rather swell, being a NEWT student and all. At the rate we were going, I was half afraid I wouldn't have any time to do anything, but luckily I can dedicate the next few days 'til Christmas solely and completely focused on my schoolwork, and definitely not stressing about Remus.

I'm afraid, dear Diary, that I must bid thee farewell for a few days as I retreat into my study cave. Alas, that is life.

Thursday

December 25, 1977

Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory

Merry Christmas!

Oh, how wonderful is Hogwarts at Christmas. Hagrid always drags in massive trees from the Forbidden Forest, and they just clump around the Great Hall all decorated in tinsel and lights and baubles, and the candles always seem extra bright. I'm fairly sure Murphy charmed all of the suits of armour to sing Christmas carols whenever you walk past them, and there's about as many suits of armour in Hogwarts as there are books, so it's a fairly consistent cacophony of 'Jingle Bells,' 'Good King Wenceslas' and 'God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs' at all times. Oh, and did I mention the mistletoe that Dumbledore has hung around the castle? If you don't snog the person you're caught with underneath the flower it's magically charmed to follow you around and make chicken noises until you finally do snog them.

Thus far, I have only been caught under the mistletoe one time, completely accidental mind you, and I suppose luckily for me, Remus was on the receiving end. It was all perfectly fine until Black made some snarky comment about there being a rather minuscule line up to be near me with mistletoe, and that he'd be willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of a few galleons. I told him he could shove that idea up his nostrils and Remus glared at him for the rest of the day, so he got his comeuppance in the end.

I couldn't say why, but Black's apparently decided to resort to his pre-friendship 'charming' self of late. It's only been a few days, but it's driving me nuts. I've been so infuriated by him popping up everywhere and distracting me and pestering me that I've barely had a chance to think about this whole Remus situation. What's more annoying is that I don't know where any of this behaviour is coming from!

But enough on Black, there are more important things to discuss. I woke up this morning to find Selene had delivered some presents from my family, namely a batch of brownies, a new watch, and a scarlet and gold blanket crocheted by my mother. None of us girls exchanged presents as we knew that we'd be doing our Secret Santa with the lads after the Ball. I decided to get Lottie a puffskein after all. They're a little pesky, but she loves all animals, and besides, she needs to furry encouragement to get through her NEWTs.

The plans for the rest of the day are simple. Breakfast, homework, lunch, set up for the Ball (thank you magic), get ready for the Ball, and then the Ball itself.

Speaking of the Ball, I just know the Bloody Prat Quadruplet have something up their sleeve for tonight, and I'm just a little bit concerned about what it might entail.

Alright, onto the festivities!

Thursday

December 25, 1977

Great Hall

For the record, I had no idea this night would be so eventful. It's just past midnight and so very many things have occurred. Let's recap.

After we successfully finished applying to finishing touches to the Great Hall, Lily dragged us all to the double doors and made us stare at "our masterpiece" for a little too long, before suggesting that if "we are all going to stand here staring we won't have time to get ready, so chop chop, everyone".

Lily had been practising her transfiguration, and so upon arriving back to the chaos that was our dorm room, helped the girls to tweak their dresses to perfection. My dress was scarlet chiffon, slightly flouncy for dancing, but simple enough that it wasn't over the top. With a practised flip of her wand, Lottie curled my hair, and then we all added our finishing touches and began to head to the Great Hall to meet our dates.

The Marauders, oh golly, the Marauders, had dresses themselves in matching dress robes of bright gold and scarlet, each one with a different garish Christmas-themed pattern on it. Remus beamed at me as I rounded the corner, and said, "you look wonderful," before holding out a Christmas tree patterned arm for me.

Lily and James looked lovely together, as they always do, I must admit, and Lottie didn't look at all out of place on Peter's arm either. Frank joined us shortly to collect Alice, and he, thank goodness, was not dressed like an insane acrobat, much to Alice's relief. To my slight confusion, it seemed as if Marley and Black had agreed to go together, which seemed like an unusual pairing, but who was I to judge, right? At least Aislin would be glaring daggers at her and not me for one.

We ventured into the hall, and although I had already seen it, it somehow looked so much more magical with everyone in their dress robes and Dumbledore's beard plaited with tinsel. Lily had organised for the Christmas trees to be moved to the side to make way for giant, glistening ice sculptures of each house's animal emblem, and what seemed like tiny magical, golden, lights floated through the air, reflecting off the ice and settling like faeries in the trees.

"Whoa," breathed Marley as she stepped inside. "You guys did all this?"

"It was mostly Lily," I said.

"Well I had a lot of help from all of-"

"It was all Lily," said James, shaking his head and smiling softly at her. "We just did what she told us to do."

Lily blushed and stared at him for what we all thought was a bit longer than necessary.

"Well, those guys are obviously having a moment, so how about a dance, Black?" asked Marley.

"Anything for my ravishingly beautiful date," he said, bowing deeply.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Black, but you do not get to say those sorts of things to me," Marley said as she strode toward the dance floor.

"Fair enough," Black shrugged, and followed her retreating back, saluting me as he turned around.

Next to me, Remus grabbed my hand. "Um, dance, Eva?"

"Sure," I said, pulling a face at Lottie. That was weird. I thought this whole Remus thing would be really natural, but that was weird.

Remus and I danced for a little bit before I politely excused myself and went to take a seat next to Lottie, who was watching Peter and James dance the funky chicken a little too enthusiastically.

One thing to note about Remus: he cannot dance. He cannot dance whatsoever.

I had never previously realised this, because the Christmas Ball is only for the older students, and by the time I myself was an older student I couldn't bear to dance with Remus because of the whole 'feelings' issue.

Anyhow, I hadn't quite anticipated the whole stepping on my toes every four to six seconds, hence why I migrated from the dance floor toward Lottie.

"You look like you're having fun," she said, not at all sarcastically.

"Well, sure," I said. "If by fun you mean in pain from having my toes crushed under Remus' feet."

"Oh yeah," replied Lottie. "I should have warned you about that. Remus is a terrible dancer, but no one's got the heart to tell him."

"Great, just my luck," I said, sinking further into the seat.

"You'll be alright," said Lottie, patting my shoulder affectionately. "At least you have a dance partner. Mine's seemingly forgot about me." She gestured vaguely in the direction that Peter was just moments before, but had since disappeared. "Who knows where he is now."

"Eva!" Remus said, strolling over and looking more jovial than he'd seemed in months. "I've brought you some punch! Oh, sorry Lottie, I didn't see you sitting there or else I would have brought you some too."

"That's okay," she said with a sigh. "I suppose I should just get used to being forgotten."

Remus mouthed 'is she okay?' at me and I shrugged, chugging the glass of punch. Oh, Merlin, I didn't even check to see if Black had spiked it. I don't think he did. No, I'm pretty sure that was just normal punch.

"Charlotte, would you do me the honour of this dance?" asked Remus, bowing comically low.

"Um, no, definitely not," she said, right as Remus took another sip of his punch. People should really watch what they say around Remus when he's drinking because I think the brutality of her words caused him to choke on his drink.

I hurriedly stood up and gave him a reassuring pat on his back whilst I waited for him to stop choking. "Don't worry about her, she's just being a sourpuss," I said. "Let's go dance, shall we?"

Taking one for the team, folks.

Honestly, I should have just left him choking there because it meant I then had to dance with Remus for quite a while longer than anyone should have had to dance with a man who cannot dance. I'm not sure if it was thankfully or unfortunately that at the 957th toe-crush Remus was tapped on the shoulder by none other than Sirius Black who asked, rather politely, if he might cut in.

Remus gave him a somewhat stern look for someone who had been stepping on my feet for the past hour, but told me he'd be back sooner rather than later.

Stepping into the arms of Sirius Black was like stepping into a breath of fresh air.

No, that sounds ridiculous. What's a better way of saying that I was so relieved I could feel my toes again that I started for a second not being completely and utterly repulsed by Sirius Black? Repulsed is probably too strong a word. You get my meaning, though.

"You looked like you could use a break from having all of your toes squashed to pieces," he said. For some reason, his breath didn't smell like firewhiskey. Huh. Growth.

"Why did nobody warn me?"

In a surprising turn of events, I discovered Black could actually dance.

"You didn't know?" he asked, grinning a little bit. "How could you not know?"

"Well," I said, "I haven't danced with him before, because, well, reasons, and as aforementioned, nobody warned me!"

"Well, Remus' dancing is sort of something everyone knows about but doesn't really talk about. But you don't need to dance with him all night, you know... There's plenty of other canines in the sea."

"Ha, ha, Black."

"See? I'm funny! Plus, I'm pretty too, so we're the perfect match." Black winked at me as he spun me around.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't make fun. You've lost all of your teasing privileges because you've been such a twunt head these past few days."

Black laughed. "Twunt head?"

"Yes! Twunt head!"

"I shall wear that badge with honour," he said, "but-." He paused and suddenly grabbed my wrist which was housing my new watch. "Is that the time? I'm terribly sorry to put a pause on this delightful dance, but I have things that need attending to. Raincheck?"

"These things had better not affect me, Black."

"They won't. Probably. Hopefully. Alright, gotta run!"

And just like that, Black ran off to Merlin knows where to do Merlin knows what.

I glanced around seeing Lottie still sitting off by herself, went and joined her.

"Since when do you dance with Sirius Black?" asked Lottie, raising an eyebrow.

"Since tonight apparently," I said. "He saved me from Remus' feet."

"Fair enough," she replied. "Remus' dancing would make any sane woman go mad."

She wasn't wrong.

The night continued much in the same manner: dancing, drinking punch, chatting to my friends. At one point I ended up dancing with Mark Abery, who was telling me that he was now in all sorts of trouble because he thought that dating Julie Ansen would be one thing, and it wasn't, and now he wasn't sure about anything. For some reason it made me think of-

No, never mind.

It was at that point that we had to put our dance on hold because all of the Slytherins' hair started to turn bright red for no apparent reason.

All four members of the marauders looked suspiciously normal as Dumbledore requested that there be 'no more tampering with the food' or else 'Christmas may be cancelled indefinitely'.

I'm not really sure he can just cancel Christmas, but sure.

It was also at this point that I noticed Professor Sprout looking rather red in the face and attempting to dance a jig with Professor Flitwick. This was a somewhat unusual occurrence, but what made it more unusual was the fact that Sprout had taken off her shoes and Flitwick was holding what looked to be a purple speckled toad.

Upon further investigation of the Professors, McGonagall seemed to be snoring at the Professors table, and Slughorn was dancing slowly by himself, clutching a box of candied pineapple to his chest. Bunt, Travers, Selwyn and Mercier-Roussel all seemed to be in various states of disarray as well, and who knows where the other Professor were.

For some reason, it seemed as if all of the Professors were absolutely sozzled. That is, to say, they were absolutely stinking drunk.

Oh no, what have those boys done?

I ambled over to the four boys who were sitting at a table near the dance floor, calmly spooning peas out of a large bowl.

"Would any of you like to explain why all of the Professors are off their heads?" I asked as calmly as possible.

"Nope," Peter squeaked, ideally in fear of my wrath.

"Oh, that's probably because we put a lot of firewhiskey in their punch," said James Potter, grinning sweetly.

"Seriously? Lily went to all this hard work and you want to ruin it by getting the Professors all drunk?"

"No, no, Eva, it's exactly that! We always do a prank at the Christmas Ball and this one is simple, less harmful, and doesn't really affect anyone, except for the Professors of course! It's the perfect prank!"

"Right," I said as I watched Murphy attempt to wake McGonagall up. He seemed to be the only one with any wits about him. Murphy, having failed to get anything from McGonagall, quickly rushed over to Bunt, who kept falling over and attempted to kind of usher him out the Great Hall. Bunt decided he would rather hiccough like a lunatic and loudly protested Murphy's help. Great. If Voldemort doesn't kill us, the Professors will.

"Well I'm not going to stay here and watch, so goodnight," I said.

"Wait, no! Stay 'til midnight!" said Black, grabbing my wrist and checking my watch again. "It's only five minutes!"

I glared at him but decided to stay. I didn't want to stay near them, of course, so I went over to see Lily and Lottie, who were giggling about McGonagall's snoring.

"Aren't you at all upset by this?" I asked Lily, shocked she wasn't yelling about the Ball being ruined.

"Not really," said Lily, laughing as Selwyn started dancing the funky chicken. "Come on, Eve, it's a bit funny, isn't it?"

I looked around at all my teachers who were in various states of drunkenness. I must admit, Professor Sprout singing an operatic version of 'Gandalf the Grey and the Cow that went Neigh' was somewhat amusing.

My traitorous thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the Great Hall going pitch black.

A single light suddenly lit up the darkness as what seemed to be a miniature firework went off near the ceiling. Soon another one went off, and another, all different colours, all making intricate patterns across the ceiling. It was possibly one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen.

I glanced back at the Marauders and made eye contact with Sirius Black, who slowly smiled and nodded his head as if to say 'I told you so.'

Unfortunately, his smile transformed into a look of horror, and I turned back around to see that the Great Hall was on fire.

Unfortunately, most of the Professors were completely inebriated and were unable to assist in putting out the fire that had spread to most of the Christmas trees.

Unfortunately, Lily Evans looked about as red in the face as I'd ever seen her before, and I'd known her for seven years.

Unfortunately, Dumbledore is announcing that the Christmas Ball is cancelled indefinitely right as I write this down.

At least we put the fire out, eh?

AN: Yikes here is another chapter! Thank you and welcome to all my new readers, I hope you're enjoying the wild ride that is this story!

One of my favourite things about this is reading all of the comments because honestly I want to reply 'same' to most if not all of them and it brightens my day to read your feedback and reactions!

Thank you to everyone who votes and comments, and I love you very much!

Most of all, I love my two book wenches, the Lily Evans and Charlotte Ansen to my Evelyn Bishop. I couldn't do it without you, especially when I'm panic-writing with a vague idea and no time to write it.

LOVE YOU ALL!

OXO


	26. Doom and Despair and Purple Underwear

**Friday**

 **January 2, 1978**

 **The Great Hall**

Despite all of the celebrations that came with Christmas and the New Year, the week following has been far more subdued due to an article that came out in the Prophet yesterday morning.

 _In an unforeseen event on the first day of the New Year, an unforgivable attack was made on the Beckham family, an outstanding pureblood family in the Wizarding community, by who is assumed to be the man called Lord Voldemort and his followers. The bodies of Francis and Amilla Beckham, along with their two daughters Hollissa and Berenice were found early this morning amongst the wreckage of their once austere countryside Mansion. A spokesperson from the Ministry has stated that "The horrific skull floating above the ruins is the only clue as to the perpetrators of this terrible crime, but every effort is being made to apprehend these people before any more damage is done to the Wizarding community"._

James thinks it's a load of bollocks.

The efforts made by the Ministry that is. Not the devastating murder.

What isn't a load of bollocks is that Hollie Beckham, Slytherin prefect and a genuinely good person was murdered by Voldemort yesterday for reasons beyond my comprehension.

It really puts things in perspective.

It'll sure make Joan Fletcher regret calling her a Voldemort supporter, that's for certain.

Due to these events, the general vibe of Hogwarts has been rather sombre, and the house banners in the Great Hall have all been changed to black.

What isn't sombre, however, is James Potter's renewed crusade against the forces of evil both within and outside of Hogwarts. On a side note, is without truly the opposite of within, because can you use it in the context of someone being within and without Hogwarts? Just a thought.

As I write, James is discussing different techniques of how to keep up with suspicious activity inside the castle, and whether or not anyone has any idea of how best to do so.

"We could, I dunno, do a stakeout?" Black suggested, looking rather too eager for comfort.

" _Brilliant,_ Pad!" James replied, jumping in his seat.

I was half afraid he was going to jump on the table again (as he so often does) and incur the wrath of McGonagall.

"Thank you," Black tossed his hair, "I know you are but what am I."

"Pad! Ahh, you melt my heart you handsome vixen you," James said, raising his hand to his brow. "It's a wonder there isn't some lovely lady who hasn't swept you up yet. One day, one day."

It's probably because Black is too busy snogging everyone left, right and centre to form a committed relationship with anyone. Actually, now that I think about it, I haven't seen or heard about him snogging anyone for a while. Intriguing. Not that I care, of course. He's probably just really bad at snogging.

Anyway, Peter doesn't seem too keen on the idea. "I mean sure," he says, looking doubtful, "but Isn't there a better way? A stakeout could be risky."

"Darling Peter Petering Peterson Petersong," Black responds, "that is precisely why a stakeout is imperative! Picture the scene: you, me, the invisibility cloak-"

"The invisa-what?" Marley interrupts.

Black continues as if Marlene didn't just question the fact he knows where to access an assumingly legitimate cloak of invisibility. "-and a musty, mouldy, dank, dark dungeon corridor. Ooh, I've got shivers of anticipation already!"

For lack of a better phrase: Merlin's chin hairs, Black! What potion have you been drinking? ...And where can I get some? I think we all need a bit of Black's enthusiasm.

"Alright, calm down there a bit, pal," says James, looking justifiably concerned. "Stakeout could be a good idea."

"You know what I think?" says Remus, speaking up for the first time that morning.

Speaking of the speaking Remus, the nature of our relationship is getting increasingly confusing. Let's recap. First, he confesses hidden feelings for me. Second, he snogs me in the middle of the hallway. Third, he shakes my hand and runs away after said hallway snog. Fourth, he invites me to the Christmas Ball and attempts to dance with me the whole night. Fifth, he sits next to me wherever we go. Fifth, we have nightly study sessions together. Sixth, there is possibly a fair amount of snogging involved in said nightly study sessions. Seventh, we have not technically defined the nature of our relationship past the fact that it is, in fact, a sort of relationship.

How do I feel about it all?

Well, let me just say one thing: Remus, despite what one may think, knows a damn thing or two about snogging.

However, let me say another thing: is there possibly such a thing as too much snogging? Especially when the relationship is 'yet to be defined?' I dunno. I feel like we haven't had a proper conversation in ages. I haven't even asked him for help with my homework or anything.

But that doesn't matter, because we all know that Remus and I should definitely be together and will likely be the most amazing couple Hogwarts has ever seen perhaps ever.

I should probably chat to Remus about this. Well, that's only if I can get a word in.

Anyway, let's return to the present conversation.

"You know what I think?" Remus says. "I think that spying on the Slytherins may not have the desired effect that we want it to, especially since they haven't really done anything 'bad' lately."

"Moony, that's precisely the point!" James responds. "They're being suspiciously quiet, and I don't trust it. I do not trust it at all."

"I suppose," says Remus doubtfully. "Although I think we should wait until this whole Dumbledore thing pans out before we make any rash decisions."

"Rash decisions?" James shouts, earning stares from the surrounding tables. "Sorry," he says more quietly. "I just mean, since when are you concerned about rash decisions? Also, these are the Slytherins we're talking about."

"I dunno Prongs. This isn't just some prank war we're talking about here, this is proper life and death."

"Exactly what he said," says Peter. "Isn't it, you know, safer to let the professionals handle it?"

"Okay lads, here's an idea," Lily interjects. "Have we considered not discussing this in the Great Hall where literally anyone can hear?"

"Mmm," says Lottie, "have you considered discussing this next to a roaring fire with a plate of eggs?"

James and Black make overly long eye contact as they consider this idea.

"I suppose so," says James, finally tearing his eyes away from Black. I have just now noticed that Black's eyes have these specks of shiny silver amongst the grey that is actually quite pretty. Oh, Merlin, he's noticed me staring. That's embarrassing. Now he's looking at me weirdly.

"We shall put this conversation on hold for now, but we shall most definitely address it again, mostly because I don't really trust the professionals," Black says.

"On another note," says James, "How did this sherbet lemon get into my pocket? I don't think I've ever eaten a sherbet lemon in my life."

James holds up the canary yellow sweet for us all to look at.

"What is that? Is that... is that writing on it?" asks Lily, snatching it from his hand and holding it closer to her face. "It is! It just says... 'date to be confirmed'..."

"James, why d'you have a sherbet lemon that says 'date to be confirmed' in your pocket?" asks Lottie.

James grabs his sherbet lemon back from Lily and squints at it. "I dunno, Lottie, I dunno."

"Wait, everyone check their pockets," says Black after a second. "I have an idea."

We all pat down our pockets. Lily, Black, Remus, Marley, and I all pull out a sherbet lemon."

"Why on earth do we all have sherbet lemons in our pockets?" asks Lily, narrowing her eyes. "Is this some sort of prank? What kind of terribly lame prank is this?"

"No, Lily, I don't think it's a prank," says Black, looking gleeful. "Remember at that meeting with Dumbledore, what did he say?"

"Stop saying 'waggledy woo' in response to all of Professor Binn's questions in class?" James asked.

"No, the other meeting. The secret one."

"Oh right," said James, his face reddening. "Voldemort, something, fight, something?"

It was time for me to interject.

"He said that we have to weigh up what is most important to us before making the decision, and when our decision is made it will all become clear to us." I narrowed my eyes at James Potter. "Who on earth let you be Head Boy again?"

"The same person that didn't make you Head Girl," he winked in response.

"Alright, okay, back to the situation at hand," said Black, probably to stop me hexing James under the table. "What Eva said was right. Dumbledore told us it will all be made clear to us. The sherbet lemons are what is being made clear to us."

"I don't follow," said Peter, still patting his pockets.

"For those of us who have weighed up the importance of the decision to join Dumbledore's club and decided in its favour, we have received what I assume to be a magic sherbet lemon that will let us know when the first meeting is. Right?"

"Well then what does it mean if we don't have a sherbet lemon?" asked Lottie. "Does it mean... we didn't get in?"

"No, I just think it means you haven't actually weighed the importance of the decision and thought it through yet. Either that or you don't actually want to join."

"Huh," said Lily. "I think that may have been the most intelligent hypothesis I've ever heard come out of your mouth, Black. And, I think you're right. Now all we do is wait for the date to appear."

"Lily, Lily, Lily, you flatter the pudding out of me," said Black. "If the whole thing with you and Prongs doesn't work out then _OW-"_

James grinned at him from across the table. "You were saying, Pad?"

"I was saying, that I would be completely devastated to see less of your warming friendship, and clearly nothing else."

At this point in time everyone decides that we've well and truly finished breakfast, and that it would be pertinent to get on with what we all need to get done today.

I'll keep you updated on the stake out, sherbet lemon and Remus situations.

 **Friday**

 **January 2, 1978**

 **The Hospital Wing**

I feel like an unnecessarily large amount of unfortunate things happen to me whilst in the presence of Sirius Black, some of which I shall proceed to document below to make a point.

 _ **A Short and Incomplete List of Some of the Terrible Situations that have Occurred to One Evelyn K. O. Bishop whilst in the Presence of One Sirius O. Black Since the Beginning of the 1977-1978 School Year.**_

 **1.** My first day, where he embarrassed me in front of all of my friends with his stupid snogging bet. I can't believe I'd almost forgotten about that.

 **2.** That time we got detention for two weeks and consequently various rumours flew around the school suggesting I was pregnant with Black's love child.

 **3.** When Black stole my mail and started writing my mother. And told her we were dating.

 **4.** Who could forget when he put a frog in my bed!

 **5.** And tried to pour flubberworm mucus on me!

 **6.** And traumatised me with his constant snogging of Aislin Murphy!

 **7.** And could have potentially made me fail Potions multiple times!

 **8.** The last incident I have decided to mention is that there have been numerous Slytherin kerfuffles both of us have been involved in, because it leads me into my story.

Late this afternoon I was on my way to the Library to try and get some study done. Yes, study. That's not a code word for snogging or anything. I actually had to tell Remus I was having a nap so I could even get some study done! Anyway, I was on my way to the library, and as usual (and as an attempt to avoid anyone who might snitch on my whereabouts) I cut through the hidden passages of Hogwarts. It was as I was coming out of a passage behind a musty tapestry that I heard the voices.

Who was it? Ten points if you guessed Sirius Black. Twenty if you guessed the Slytherins were there too.

I feel like this happens far too often. It's not like I'm trying to overhear secret conversations that Black is having with the Slytherins, it just _happens._ Maybe Hogwarts itself is orchestrating this. Regardless, I wish it would stop.

"You don't have any business with him anymore, Black. He's with us."

"Well, actually, I think you'll find my brother will always have business with me, seeing as you know, he's my brother."

I could hear the sneer in Avery's voice as he said, "Too bad, so sad, Black. He doesn't want you to be his brother, let alone have business with him."

"Well you seem to be rather vocal on what my brother does and doesn't want, but we haven't heard from the man himself, have we, Reg?"

I peered out from behind the tapestry. Black stood in the middle of the corridor, arms crossed but clutching his wand in his right hand. Peter stood behind him, seemingly for backup, although he didn't look too keen on the prospect.

Avery, Regulus and Nott stood in a triangle, much like a muggle girl band. Mm, yes. I can picture Nott on the drums.

"You think you're hilarious, don't you Sirius," said Regulus.

"You flatter me, Reg."

"You can't take anything seriously, can you? We're not just joking around anymore, this is real stuff. You need to lay off, or else."

"Or else what, Reg? You and these morons might hex us into oblivion?"

"Perhaps," said Avery. "But if we don't, we know someone else who will, and you won't like that at all."

"Especially you, runt," said Nott, leering at Peter who had taken a few steps backward.

"Oh lay off, you lot," said Black, "get some better threats or some better insults or perhaps even some better haircuts."

It was at that point I dropped all my books and Nott hexed me.

Well, to provide a bit more detail, one of quills slipped out of my hands, and in an attempt to grab it I got caught in the tapestry, dropped my textbooks, and Nott is such a blithering idiot that he was startled enough to hex me! Rude, right?

If I went around hexing everyone who startled me the whole school would have antlers at this point!

Well, unfortunately for me I guess, Michael Nott doesn't have such restraint, which is why I'm currently propped up in the Hospital Wing waiting for Pomfrey to shrink my ears down to a reasonable size again.

She's currently attending to Nott who is currently recovering from a black eye after Black punched him in the face.

Black really needs to stop getting into physical fights as there's only so many times I can fix his broken nose. In fact, he also needs to make less rash decisions, as stopping two on one fight with ears scraping the floor is not an easy feat. Luckily for me I had the aid of Peter, who wisely did not get involved in the fist fight. Needless to say, there are six people currently seeking Pomfrey's attention, although one of them is for their nerves and as far as I know, no actual physical injury.

"Oi, Eva!" says Black from the bed next to mine, "Can you at least hear any better?" He whispers something unintelligible and nods at me expectantly.

"I didn't hear what you just said, if that's what you were asking," I say in response. "They're more annoying than anything."

"Damn," he says. "I was hoping we could make use of them for our..." he glances at the other beds before mouthing the word 'stakeout.'

"Since when am I going on this stakeout with you?" I whisper, confused.

"Since you're clearly the best option."

"How? What about James?"

"He can't control his righteous enthusiasm at the moment."

"Remus?"

"He's too cautious of the plan."

"Peter?"

"He's a bit, well, nervous nowadays."

"Lily?"

"She won't do it without James."

"Lottie? Alice?"

"They didn't get sherbet lemons."

"Marley?"

"I like you better than her."

"Oh." Huh. I wasn't expecting that response. "Is that the only reason? Process of elimination?"

"No... You're damn good with a wand, have just the right amount of righteous enthusiasm and although you have an above-average amount of clumsiness from what I heard from everything on you're birthday you're not too bad at sleeping around."

"I'm sorry, say that last bit again?"

"You're not too bad at sneaking around?"

"Oh, thank Merlin, I thought you said sleeping around."

Black laughs, earning a shushing from Pomfrey. He apologises to her before awkwardly whispering, "I don't think anyone thinks you're good at sleeping around. ...Not that, um, I think you'd be bad for, um, sleeping with, just that you don't do it, which isn't a bad thing, you're clearly not a prude though, you're just, um-"

"Did you have a point with this?" I stare at him, aghast.

"To be frank, I'm not entirely sure."

I think this is the first time I've ever seen his face quite this red.

"That definitely came out in a different way than I expected it to," he says, wincing. "Shall we pretend that never happened?"

"Quite."

"Wonderful."

"Now, what's going on over here," asks Pomfrey, gently lifting up one of my ears. "Aside from a bit too much chit-chat, I think we can safely say there's a rather large problem with your ears. I assume you'd like that to change?"

"Oh, no, Pomfrey," says Black. "Please leave those ears the way that they are. I think we all like them much better that way."

"That is the exact sort of comment I'd expect from you, Black, which is why I've asked you to leave twice already."

"But Pomfrey," Black whines, "They broke my nose!"

"Oh, did they really? I'm ever so sorry for my oversight, let me just-" Pomfrey laid my ear back gently on the bed before walking over to examine Black. "Mr Black, it's one thing to be annoying, it's another thing to lie about a serious medical injury! Your nose is perfectly fine!"

"Oh right, yes, Eva did fix it for me."

"She did?" Pomfrey looks over at me with surprise. "I didn't know you had an affinity for healing magic, Miss Bishop. I wouldn't have even known his nose had been broken at all!"

"Oh, I just dabble a bit. Mostly just the scrapes this idiot gets himself into."

"Well I suppose that does explain Mr Black's lack of visits to the hospital wing, then. You should come talk to me a bit more about this, Miss Bishop, I'd love to help you develop your charm work in this area."

"I don't know what to say to that, Pomfrey. You normally don't want to see me."

"Oh, fiddle-faddle, don't be silly with me, girl. Let me just fix those ears for you, and I can't do it if you're writing in that infernal diary!"

Oh, right.

Gotta go!

 **Saturday**

 **January 3, 1978**

 **The Great Hall**

After the 'ears incident' the only interesting thing that has happened thus far is the somewhat civil conversation I just had with Isadora James.

Yes, you heard me correctly. Civil. Well, somewhat. It was a weird conversation that I hadn't planned to happen but happened anyway.

And speaking of, it happened like this:

I was walking to the Great Hall for tea, somewhat late because I had to grab a tincture from Pomfrey to stop the throbbing pain in my ears, when I accidentally ran right into Isadora.

"Do you mind, Bishop?" said Isadora, quite red in the face.

I observed uncomfortably that she'd been crying.

"Are you... okay?" I asked, patting her awkwardly on the shoulder.

"Don't, just... Go away."

For lack of better judgement, I continued patting her awkwardly on the shoulder.

"What are you doing? Why aren't you going away?"

"You're quite clearly upset about something."

"And you don't care, so why does it matter?"

"Fine," I said, taking a step back. "Bye, then."

"Wait," she said. Isadora squinted at me, as if evaluating whether or not I was going to jump up at her a scream 'gotcha!' "It's Hol... He's being distant and I don't know what to do... And I'm only telling you this because you guys seem to be friends somehow. Has he said anything to you?"

At this point I was unsure of what to say. First of all, Hol and I aren't friends, so I didn't know what relationship advice to give, seeing as he hadn't told me anything. In fact, I barely know anything about him at all, aside from that fact that he has a sister. That was when it came to me! Maybe he was being distant in order to protect Isadora from the Slytherins as well! I think anyone in my position would have done what I did, which was to tell Isadora that, "Well, I don't really know, but perhaps it has something to do with the fact that some of the Slytherins have been threatening him."

"They've been what?"

"Yes, they've been making him commit nefarious acts or else they'll hurt his sister."

"But... Hol doesn't have a sister." Isadora seemed very confused about this.

Actually, so was I. "What do you mean he doesn't have a sister? Are you quite sure?"

"Yes, very! I've been to his home, I've met his parents and two of his cousins. No sister."

"Right," I said. "Well, something's going on there then."

"It seems so," said Isadora. "I think Hollard and I might need to have a little chat. Thank you, Eva, you've quite unexpectedly brightened my day."

"Anytime," I said. Although, I wasn't entirely sure if I meant it. This was Isadora James, after all.

She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and wiped her face before straightening her shoulders and striding off down the corridor.

Begrudgingly, I must admit she does have a sort of style about her. She's not better than me at charms, though.

 **Sunday**

 **January 4, 1978**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

I write now about the aforementioned stakeout from one of my previous diary entries. When Black was propositioning me in the Hospital Wing, I hadn't really thought about whether or not I was going to do it, I think we both sort of assumed I was without really asking me, so earlier tonight, when it came to the stakeout, I think I was rather unprepared for what said stakeout might entail.

"Alright, have you got everything?" James asked, pacing back and forth.

"Yes, I'm sure of it," said Black, peering into the bag. It was quite clever actually, Lily had the brilliant idea to put in undetectable extension charm on a small bag, so we could fit a lot of things in there without needing to lug them all around!

"I've double checked the hiding spot, I think you'll be fine," said Lily, giving me a hug. "I'm sure you'll both be perfectly safe!"

"You've got this, and be careful," said Remus, giving me a quick peck and an unusually stern look to Black. "Don't do anything... rash."

Black winked at him. "We'll be fine, old mate, won't we, Eva?"

"Right as rain," I said. "Safer than a bludger in a box."

"Oh, off you go then," said Lottie, giving me a hug as well.

"Consider us off." We waved goodbye to our friends who seemed far too concerned for my liking, donned James Potter's invisibility cloak and quietly as we could, crept toward the dungeons.

The whole reason we were going on a stakeout is that one, the Slytherins had not done anything particularly provocative lately, which obviously raises a few red flags, and then two, James and Black mentioned that they had seen the names of various Slytherins going to visit a room in the unused Charms corridor lately.

Consequently, Black decided that we needed to wait outside of the dungeons to see if any of the Slytherins were going to sneak out, and then follow them to said room to see what they were doing. We've all been so busy with Christmas and NEWT study that we haven't really had time to do any proper investigation, so this is what we could consider, our first formal investigation of the Slytherins.

Now, a quick disclaimer: when I say the 'Slytherins' I am not of course referring to all of the Slytherins, as I don't want to judge a whole house of people based upon the actions of a few, but merely the antagonistic group of sixth and seventh years that seem hell-bent on being the biggest twats Hogwarts has ever come across.

Speaking of twats, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but Black is reasonably taller than me, which made is quite a challenge to sneak to the dungeons together without what can be referred to as an unnecessarily gross overuse of physical contact.

"Eva, stop jostling me," Black whispered, tripping over my foot.

"I can't help it," I said, "when your bloody elbows keep stabbing into my stomach."

"Well then move your stomach out of the way!"

"Then the cloak wouldn't be covering me, you twunt head."

"Twunt head? What is this, first year?"

"Clearly, by your lack of coordination."

"Alright, alright, you've made your point," Black said, coming to a halt. "Just, okay, stop for a second, we'll need to rearrange."

I begrudgingly stopped moving as Black tried to work out a less dangerous way for us to both travel under the cloak.

"Eva," he said after a few seconds of moving about awkwardly, "Would you feel terribly offended if I put my arm around you, because I really can't see any other way that we can sneak about without jostling each other to death."

I took a long moment to consider this proposition. On one hand, the idea of Sirius Black putting his arm around me was rather disturbing, but on the other hand, we had things to do and it's not like we weren't already in close proximity to each other.

"If you must."

"Jolly good." Black slowly lifted his right arm and gingerly placed his hand on my waist.

It was in this fashion that we travelled the rest of the distance to the Slytherin Common Room. When we arrived we found the spot Lily had scouted earlier, a small alcove diagonally across from the entrance.

"Alright, provisions," said Black, reaching into the bag. To my surprise, he pulled out a bag of food.

"Got your priorities sorted out there alright?" I queried.

"Actually, for your information, I have. Now, Evelyn, you may not have had the opportunity to stake out an area before, but I can be considered a stake-out pro. Therefore, I know that we need to eat or else we'll get bored, hungry and tired long before the jig is up. Hence, I have provided us with suitable sustenance."

I suppose he had a point.

"I didn't quite have the time to whip these up myself," he said, grabbing something out of the bag, "but the house elves do make a mean brownie."

He passed me a brownie and without thinking I took a bite, forgetting to check if he had laced it with potion or poison.

"Good, right?"

I nodded suspiciously. They were quite good.

"It's your mother's recipe, so they'd better be good."

Somehow I keep forgetting about that time Black stole my owl and my brownies and my mother's affections.

"I've also got some toffees, my favourite, and I thought fizzing whizbees would be inappropriate for a stakeout due to the hovering side effect, so I found these muggle sweets called flying saucers for you."

This took me completely by surprise. Firstly, the fact that Black knew what my favourite sweet is, second, that he somehow found a _muggle_ equivalent, and thirdly, because I hadn't had flying saucers in years, and I absolutely loved them. They're nothing more than sherbet filled coloured-cardboard-type-substance that melts in your mouth but they'r delicious, don't argue with me.

I grabbed a blue one from the bag and popped one into my mouth. Wonderful.

"Alwiy, yow yat we yave our fooy-"

"Speak English, will you?"

Black hurriedly tried to swallow his toffee before speaking again. "Alright, now that we have our food all we need to do is wait to see who comes out of the door, and then follow them. The issue is that they've been coming out at different times so we don't know when to expect them. It could be now or it could be hours from now."

"Alright," I said.

This seemed reasonable enough. I had food and a healthy curiosity so I figured that would be enough to keep me going for however long we needed to wait.

We ate in silence for a little while. Black had cast _muffliato_ but I think that was mainly to conceal any sound of us eating. I kept thinking about the flying saucers and and trying not to think about the fact that Black was sitting rather close to me, our arms brushing together. Oh, Merlin, the silence was killing me. I had to do something.

You know when you're thinking about something but you don't think about how to translate that into good words and sentences so you end up saying something that you probably shouldn't have? Well, here's a prime example of that happening:

"So, Black, why did you run away from your family?" I said.

I felt him stiffen slightly beside me. "You sure do know how to start a conversation, don't you."

"Sorry."

"It's alright."

He didn't say anything for a while after that and I was mortally embarrassed, considering the best way to die when he suddenly said, "Well, I guess there's no harm in you knowing."

I didn't want to jinx it so I popped a toffee in my mouth and sat there silently.

"You've probably heard about the Black family. Purebloods, Slytherin elitists, lovers of the dark arts. My cousin, Bellatrix, she's a real piece of work. My mother, Walburga, she has a very strong willed personality, sees everything as black and white, and considers me a colossal disappointment to the Black name. Once I came to Hogwarts and met James and the rest of the guys, I realised that my family's beliefs were based on nothing but prejudice, and so I would challenge them on it. It got to a point that it was just not safe and not good for me to be there, so I moved in with the Potters. I'm cut off from them entirely, in every way, including money, except for Reg. He's the only I still talk to. I guess I still think that maybe there's hope for him."

Black paused. I couldn't see his face in the darkness, but I could sense that it was painful to talk about. "It's alright, you don't need to say anything else," I said.

"No, it's fine, it's all doom and despair and purple underwear," he said.

"What?"

"Doom and despair and purple underwear. You know -"

Before he could say anything else, the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room popped open and Black and I froze.

We couldn't see who it was, they must have cast a disillusionment spell, but a quick glance at Black's map showed that it was Snape and Nott, hurrying along in the darkness.

Black grabbed the food, popping it back into the bag, and we stood up, following them as quietly as we could with the map under the invisibility cloak.

After about ten minutes of following them, it was clear they were going to the unused Charms corridor. When they got to the room they wanted, they pushed open the door and we sneaked in behind them, narrowly avoiding crashing into Nott as his form appeared and pushed the door to.

Snape muttered something under his breath and his form slowly appeared as well, before going over to what appeared to be a dusty, unused cupboard, and said, _"Revelio."_

To my surprise, a small potions lab appeared, complete with a cauldron bubbling over flames.

Snape walked over to it, waving his wand over the bubbling liquid.

"How is it?" asked Nott.

"Good. We'll be ready in three days."

"That's sooner than anticipated. Avery will be pleased."

Snape sneered at him, "I didn't do this to impress Avery, he means nothing in all of this."

"Regardless, he'll be pleased. He's found the girl."

"Has he?" Snape looked impressed. "I didn't think she could be found."

"Well that's what he said, don't take my word for it. Any word on Potter and his gang?"

"They know nothing. The fools run around the school, thinking they know everything when really? They know nothing of what is to come."

Nott grinned as Snape waved his wand over the cupboard, hiding the potion and its contents. "Three days, I can't believe it!"

"Don't get too excited, we still have work to do," said Snape. "Hide yourself, it's time to go back."

He whirled around, missing Black and I by a mere inch.

We waited until it was long after they left the room before speaking.

"Merlin's beard," said Black, his eyes almost glowing with excitement. "Did you see what was in that cauldron."

"Polyjuice potion," I whispered, trying to wrap my head around everything that we just witnessed. "What do you think they're doing?"

"Well... I guess we'll find out in three days.'

 _ **AN: So... Here's an early present for you all! MERRY CHRISTMAS!**_

 _ **(also, as an apology for it being a month late I included an extra 1k words for you)**_

 _ **'What is happening?' You ask? Good question. Sorry, but I can't tell you. I'd love to hear some guesses though!**_

 _ **Thank you all SO MUCH for your support for Black and the adventures of Eva**_


	27. The Official Incident

**Monday**

 **January 5, 1978**

 **Great Hall**

It seems to be a general trend in the life of myself and my friends to begin the day by having a group breakfast in the Great Hall. Today was no exception.

We spent a bit of time discussing this and that before Lottie reached into her pocket and pulled out a sherbet lemon, proudly pointing out that it now read '050178 8PM' and that she had noticed before any of us self-proclaimed 'super sleuths' had. We deduced this meant that it was finally time for our long-awaited meeting with Dumbledore to discuss the fate of the world and such.

James announced that he thought it rather short notice considering we had Quidditch practice tonight, but he would just have to move practice to six rather than seven. Classic Dumbledore, interrupting my dinner time.

I would suggest cancelling Quidditch practice, due to the apparent fate of the world being on our hands and everything, but, well, you know... it's Quidditch. On another note, I have only just now realised that the only two of us left eating are Lottie and I.

Normally I would be offended, it's not like my friends don't know I can sometimes miss things, but it gives me a good opportunity to chat with Lottie, someone who isn't as invested in the Bloody Prat... actually, I don't know how many of them can be classified as Bloody Prats anymore.

Anyway.

"Lottie, can I be candid with you?" I said after a second.

"What?" Lottie asked, looking up from her eggs. "Oh, where did everyone go?"

"Beats me."

"This always happens."

"Speaking of things always happening, can we chat about something?"

"Ooh," Lottie raised an eyebrow. "Miss I-don't-chat-about-things-with-my-best-friends-anymore wants to _chat?"_

"That's fair... I suppose I may have been a bit self-engrossed this year."

"Year? It's been 1978 for like, four and a bit days, Eve."

"You know what? I'm getting a somewhat snarky attitude from you, and I'm not exactly a fan."

"That's fair," Lottie echoed. "Although, in my defence, one of my friends was recently murdered in cold blood by a raging psychopath and my two best friends are off gallivanting with their shiny new boyfriends, whilst I just end up sitting here alone with my eggs."

"That's not true... you've got Marley and Alice too!"

"It's not exactly the same is it." Lottie stared at me with a woeful expression. "And don't you say anything about Peter because he left me at the beginning of the ball and ever since he's been on my bad list."

"Since when did you have a bad list?"

"Since the end of last year."

I took a second to digest all of what Lottie had said before continuing any further. I have an awful habit of saying whatever's on my mind without actually thinking it through, and it really didn't seem like an appropriate time to do that sort of thing.

"Alright... Well, I'm sorry for the part I had to play in all of this. I must confess I have been slightly preoccupied with my conflicted feelings toward my current relationship status and have not been paying much attention to the needs of those around me."

"Oh," said Lottie. "I hadn't actually expected you to apologise."

"I can apologise! I apologise all the time!"

"No, it's not that, although I'm not certain you're actually correct on that point, I just wanted you to know how I was feeling, I don't need an apology. Communication and all, you know? You don't know what you don't know."

"Rather," I responded, pretending I understood what she was talking about.

"Alright, now I've gotten that out," said Lottie, folding her hands in front of her, "what was it that you wanted to tell me?"

"Oh, it probably doesn't really matter," I said. "Certainly not in comparison to what you're working through."

"No, no, of course it does. Just because I'm dealing with things doesn't mean you're not as well."

"Well, if you really want to hear it..."

"I do, honestly."

"So, I guess what I wanted to say, is that I like Remus, and all, but I feel kind of sick."

"Like the flu?"

"No, not the flu, although I think I may be coming down with something. Anyway, it's more like a, I enjoy spending time with him, he's amazing and kind and smart and funny, but I feel sick kind of sick."

"Is it sort of an 'I've been in love with the idea of Remus as my boyfriend for a really long time but now that I'm actually dating him it's not all that I thought it would be' kind of sick?"

"Yes! Well, no! I love dating Remus. Remus is amazing. Remus is Remus. Why would I not want to date him?"

Lottie raised an eyebrow at me. "Do you ever listen to the words that you say, Eva? Or, do you just speak things and then live in denial."

"I think that first one? Maybe the second."

"It's more than a maybe."

"I don't like what you're getting at, Lottie."

"I haven't said anything," Lottie said (which was interesting, as she spoke the phrase 'I haven't said anything').

"Very well. I accept your not saying anything. You've helped me out very much. I must go now."

"Is that a 'I don't want to continue this conversation because I don't actually want to hear what I need to hear' kind of 'must go now' or is it 'I forgot I had plans' kind of 'must go now.'"

"Both?" I said. "I've got Potions with Black."

Lottie let out a large sigh and rested her head on her arms. "You're impossible," she said, her words muffled. "Just go."

"Alright, see you later!"

Phew. Glad we finished that conversation as I was starting to get that nasty sick feeling again. Maybe I'm just overthinking it and I have a stomach bug. I'll go visit Pomfrey.

Also, now that I think about, Lottie has Potions too.

 **Monday**

 **January 5, 1978**

 **Potions**

The first day back at term after the holidays is always fun, in that I get to see the horrified faces of those who didn't bother studying over the holidays realise just how much work they have to catch up on!

Unfortunately, I did not see that expression in the face of my desk partner as he eagerly grabbed the ingredients for _felix felicis._

"Why do you look so excited?" I asked, attempting to grind up an Occamy eggshell.

"You may not have noticed, Eva, but I've actually been studying a lot and I'm excited to brew the perfect Liquid Luck potion. Just think of all I could use it for!"

"You know you can't actually keep it, right?" I said. "You can never keep the potions we make in this class."

Black feigned surprise. "Really?" he said. "News to me. I've been nicking them for years!"

"What would you use it for anyway? Pranking the population?"

"No, that would be a waste, I've got enough talent in that department. I'd use it for music competitions."

I stopped grinding the Occamy shell to process the words that just came out of his mouth. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm kidding," he said, his trademark grin lighting up his face.

"Oh, wow. Here I was picturing you playing the flute or something."

He looked alarmed for a second. "So you know, Eva, if anyone ever says that I do play a musical instrument and it's something pansy like the flute it would only be because my elitist parents forced me to learn so I could have a well-rounded cultured education and I really didn't want to play the piano. This education also involved learning things like French and Latin so any flute learning would pale in comparison to my knowledge of languages. This, of course, is all hypothetical."

"I'm going to choose to believe you, because sometimes I really can't tell when you're telling the truth or when you're messing with me."

"Thank Merlin," he muttered. "Alright, let's get back to the potion! Oh, and we'll need it for when we spy on the Slytherins in two days time."

Whatever I was going to say was interrupted by Avery and Nott setting Ewan MacMillan's hair on fire, and getting detention for the next three nights. Serves them right. Hopefully that puts a damper on their nefarious plans.

 **Monday**

 **January 5, 1978**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory.**

I have arrived back in my dormitory after the long awaited meeting with Dumbledore.

On a side note, Quidditch practice was _hell_ because we have a match against Hufflepuff in two months and we are, quote, "measly little warts" according to James Potter, who in my opinion is the measliest wart of all.

Back to Dumbledore.

The sherbet lemons didn't actually say anything about where the meeting was, so we waited until 8 o'clock to see if anything would show up, and it didn't, so we hurriedly rushed to Dumbledore's office, hoping sherbet lemon would also be the password.

To our credit, we only arrived seven minutes late, mostly due to our collective knowledge of how to sneak around Hogwarts, so I don't think Isadora's sniff of contempt was quite necessary as we hurried through the door.

Dumbledore gave us a typical glance over his half moon glasses before saying, "Now that you're all here, I invite you to take a seat."

There were no seats, so we sat on the floor.

Dumbledore smiled to himself. He probably planned that.

"I thank you for the sacrifice you all are making for being here today," he said, looking around the room. "Our cause is great, and so is each person who has taken the step of bravery to be here."

I took the opportunity to see who would make up Dumbledore's group of insurgents.

There were many friendly faces: Lily, Lottie, Marley and Alice, as well as James, Black, Remus, Peter and Frank. Dorcas, Mary McDonald and Emmaline Vance made up the remaining Gryffindors, and I noticed Dorcas made an effort to stand on the other side of the room from me.

Ignoring that, for Hufflepuff there was Isadora and Ewan MacMillan, his hair making a strong recovery from being set on fire, and for Ravenclaw there was Elena Prinz, Joan Fletcher and Hollie Hindeburg.

I was happy to see Jason Arnold hadn't made the cut, and neither had Aislin Murphy.

There were no Slytherins. Hollie Beckham had been the only one invited.

"Tonight we will not engage in anything of real importance, other than performing a short magic ritual in order to really create unity within the group."

"Any blood sharing?" asked James, a tad too eagerly, earning a whack from Lily.

"Not tonight, Mr Potter," Dumbledore replied.

"So... another night?" James said again, obviously not heeding Lily's warning whack.

Dumbledore just peered at James over his glasses. "Tonight we will be performing a simple magic spell that binds your word to this enterprise. A mere safety precaution, if you will."

"Don't you trust us?" asked Marlene.

"I have complete faith in all of you, that is for certain. No, this is for the benefit of the others."

"There's others?"

"As I mentioned earlier, we will discuss this further, and all and any significant details at a later time. For now, I ask that you form a circle and with your non-preferred hand, grab hold of the person on your left. For those of you who are left handed, simply try your best."

I narrowed my eyes at Isadora after noting that she was the only other left-handed in the room.

"Now, repeat after me," said Dumbledore. " _Verbum vinculum._ " He flicked his wand in an upright figure eight and pointed it toward a piece of paper in the middle of the circle. A soft golden light sparked toward the paper, engulfing it in a bright light and then fading shortly after.

" _Verbum vinculum,_ " we said, watching as the room was flooded with gold.

"Very good," said Dumbledore. "You may relinquish your grip now."

Throughout this process, I was and still remain intrigued. One, what was the purpose of the spell? Two, what was on the paper? Three, did Dumbledore create the spell? Four, does Dumbledore thrive purely on giving obscure answers to reasonable questions?

"Now what?" asked Black after everyone had taken a step back and settled down again. "What do we do? Dueling club?"

"Now you'll go back to your dormitories and prepare for the schooling year ahead. You'll be contacted when the time is ready."

"So we don't actually do anything..."

"It is the not doing that can sometimes make all the difference, Mr Black."

Black raised an eyebrow but said nothing. I think we all had similar concerns as him but I trust that Dumbledore knows what he's doing.

As if a gust of wind had suddenly flown through the room, the door to Dumbledore's office opened with a creak.

"I believe that is your cue, students," said Dumbledore.

"Hey, this is probably unimportant," said James as an afterthought, "But do we have a name? A group name?"

"Your question is not invalid, a name holds more importance than one might initially think, Mr Potter. If anything speaks to you be sure to let me know."

"Right on Professor."

"Have a restful sleep, students."

"Not bloody likely," Marley whispered in my ear. "I'll be too busy working out what kind of gig we just all signed ourselves up for, magically, I might add. I doubt a person in the room has a restful night's sleep."

"I have calming draught in my suitcase," was my only response.

"Bloody brilliant, is alright if I nick some?"

"I'll have myself some of that too if it's alright, Eva?" asked Black, popping up on my other side.

"Oh hush, you guys," I said. "But, fine, I'll get you some."

So at this point in the night I've already given Marlene a tad before she went to sleep, and I assume Black is waiting in the Common Room for me to come down and give him some, which I find kind of entertaining, hence why I wrote this all down first.

I should probably take some down to him if he's still even there.

Fine, you've convinced me.

Alright, I've just grabbed a bit of my stash for him and am going to head down now. It's probably a bit too tricky to write as I do so, so I'll come up again straight after and write down what happens! Not, of course, that I expect anything to happen, it's just more that if it does.

 **Monday**

 **January 5, 1978**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory.**

As I anticipated - something happened! Well, not really, but, yes really.

This is the whole encounter.

I rushed downstairs with a small vial of calming draught (contrary to popular belief, you don't actually need all that much at one time), half expecting him not to be there.

At first I thought he'd given up and gone upstairs to bed, but then I noticed what looked to be an extra large sofa cushion, which upon further inspection was Black all wrapped up in a blanket like a caterpillar preparing for transformation.

"Are you alright there, Black?" I asked, tiptoeing over to the couch.

Being in the Common Room late always made me nervous for some reason. Something about us supposedly meant to be in bed and all that.

"Wha? Sorry?" he said, said, sitting up so fast I almost got whiplash, blinking blearily. "Oh, you finally came down."

"Sorry for the delay, I was writing everything from tonight in my diary."

"Of course, of course, you always do," he said. "Come, sit down."

The spot next to him looked inviting so I ambled over and plonked down on the sofa. He was still wrapped in a blanket, scarlet and gold, and something about it seemed familiar for some reason.

"Um, well, here you go," I said, handing him the vial.

He took it and we both just sat there for a bit, not saying anything, just staring into the fire.

It was actually rather nice, just sitting next to the warmth of another human, staring into the flames. There's something awfully mesmerising and comforting about staring into fire, and I think that's why I felt so relaxed and comfortable. I guess I have to admit I've also come to regard Black as a friend, I mean he did punch Nott in the face for hexing me, and he's been doing rather well as a Potions partner, so the fact it was him sitting next me was actually an enjoyable occurrence.

Huh. Black is my friend.

I guess I'd never really actually thought about it before.

I should probably tell him. He deserves to know he has some good character traits after all the time he's spent trying to befriend me and such.

"So, um, as your friend, Black-" I started, but was interrupted by the man in question yawning and saying, "Sorry, what was that?" part way through my sentence.

"As your friend, I just wanted to say that I've been quite impressed with how you've been going in Potions recently." I tried again.

He blinked at me, shook his head a little, and said, "I don't know if I have the mental capacity to unpack everything that is happening right now, so I'm just going to go with it."

"Well if you don't want me to-" I started defensively, but he softly placed his hand on my arm which distracted me from whatever I was saying, instead bringing the thought that his hands were rather wonderful into perfect clarity.

"No, Eve, by all means, keep going."

I narrowed my eyes at him as a lazy grin settled on his features but decided I might as well finish what I started.

"It's just, I'd never really thought of you, for one, as a friend and good person, nor two, as an academic, so I just wanted to let you know that I now consider you somewhat as both."

"Well, you're two steps ahead of my mother, then," he replied.

To my horror, I felt a laugh tumble out of my mouth, but it felt high pitched and breathy, and completely unexpected.

"I'm sorry," I said immediately after and for what felt like the hundredth time that day. "I don't know what came over me at all just then. As I told Lottie this morning, I think I might be getting properly sick."

"No, it's, it's fine..." he said, staring at me curiously. "I've never heard you laugh like that with me before."

"I laugh plenty!" I said.

"Not like that," he whispered, and I rubbed my arms to hide my goosebumps.

I could feel something in the pit of my stomach, something threatening to boil over, and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. I needed to go to bed, I probably was coming down with a fever. I felt hot and cold all at once and my brain felt so addled that when he raised his hand to rake his fingers through his long, dark hair I felt compelled to wonder what it would feel like to do it myself.

I definitely have a fever.

In the midst of thinking through all of this I suddenly noticed how close I was to him, how I could almost feel his heartbeat. It seemed to be racing as much as mine, but no, that couldn't be right, he didn't have a fever.

I looked at his eyes flickering in the firelight, and suddenly forgot how to breathe.

Bed! _I need to go to bed!_

I stood up with a vigour I didn't realise I had, and all at once the fever left me.

Black blinked at me a couple of times before draping the blanket around his shoulders a little bit tighter and standing up himself.

"Well, goodnight then I suppose," he said, the calming draught clutched tightly in his right hand.

He ambled away from me, the blanket trailing along the floor when I suddenly remembered what seemed so familiar.

The blanket!

Should I say anything? I had already decided the answer to this question before I even asked myself it.

"Black, did you give me that blanket and a pillow when I slept on the couch last year, a few days after school started?"

He paused his trudge across the Common Room and slowly turned around, his face oddly blank. "I suppose I may have, yes."

"Why?" I asked after what felt like days.

"You looked cold," he said, the corner of his mouth quirking upward. "And besides, I was the one who put the frogs in your bed in the first place."

"Oh. Well, thank you."

"Any time, Eva."

I waited until he had disappeared up the stairs before I ran back up here to write this all down for you.

I think I might have to take a bit of calming draught myself... only because of the Dumbledore thing though, because as I said already, nothing happened downstairs on the sofa with Sirius Black.

 **Wednesday**

 **January 7, 1978**

 **Gryffindor Common Room**

It's been two days since my last entry, mostly due to the fact that a new term means more work, and the professors seem to be particularly keen on giving us as much to do as possible. For what reasons? I have no clue, other than the fact that I seem to be managing it all reasonably well.

Oh! I just realised I've barely mentioned Remus lately! I see him mostly in class and at meal times... It's so weird, honestly. He was _super_ clingy to begin with (what, like last week?) and now it's like I barely see him. I think we're dating? We've never had an official 'boyfriend/girlfriend' conversation, but there is somewhat regular snogging, so I think it's safe to say we are officially in a couple pairing of sorts.

I guess I never thought it would work out this way with him. When I pictured it in my head he'd confess his love for me (like he did) and then ask me to be his girlfriend (like he didn't) and we'd go on lovely dates and talk about all sorts of meaningful and meaningless things and I'd get butterflies in my stomach every time I looked at him and we'd be married by the next year.

It's just... really different to what I expected. He's still so lovely though. He walks with me to class a lot and carries my books, and he always gives me his parchment when I forget it, and he smiles at me in a funny way that sometimes makes my heart jump. But, despite all the awfully wonderful aspects of our relationship I'm still confused about where we stand with each other.

Speaking of Remus, I'm currently perched next to him on the end of the sofa, his arm wrapped around my shoulders and my body angled slightly away from him so he can't read what I'm writing.

We're discussing tonight, also known as the (dubbed by James) 'Official Incident' and the best way that the 'Official Incident Prevention Squad' can henceforth prevent said incident.

It has been decided that since Black and I were privy to the last excursion we are henceforth exempt from this one, so Lily, James, Remus and Marlene are going to go. I'm not really sure what the plan is, only that I haven't been listening at all (clearly I've been far too busy writing).

"So, remind me again why we're not going to Dumbledore about this?" asks Lottie, pacing in front of the fireplace.

"And also why we're talking about this with _other people in the room,_ " hisses Lily to James, giving a concerned glance to the five other Gryffindors milling around the Common Room.

"To the first question," James replied in a hushed tone, "if we tell Dumbledore, then he has to prevent it before anything happens, meaning that we don't really have any proof of foul play at all, whereas if we stop it in the moment then we can prevent it whilst catching them in the act! And to you, Lily, my dear flower, where else should we meet? No one is suspicious about a group of Gryffindors sitting together in the Gryffindor Common Room, are they? We're hiding in plain sight."

Lily raises an arched eyebrow but says nothing.

"Well, if we're all good with the plan, everyone, should we make haste?" James prompts.

"Easy peasy," says Marlene, jumping to her feet. "Just let me grab a jumper, it's a bit nippy out."

"Eva," says Remus, leaning over my shoulder. "Please make sure that Sirius doesn't run off after us, will you? I doubt he'll listen to Lottie, Peter or Alice if he suddenly gets an urge to join the party."

"Oh, of course," I say.

"And, um..." Remus' face scrunches into a grimace, "if it goes sour at all..."

"It won't," I say.

"But if it does..."

"Don't be silly, Remus, it's just a bunch of seventeen year olds. What harm could they do? Besides, you've got Lily with you, and only the Dark Lord himself could ever kill her, and, even then, he'd have to give it a bloody good go of it."

"What can I say, you've convinced me."

I am interrupted from my writing by Remus' lips giving mine a warm, friendly hug.

That was a weird way to write 'Remus snogged me' and I apologise to myself on behalf of myself.

Alright, Marlene's come back downstairs so I think they're ready to go.

"Be safe, you lot," I say to the four leaving, giving them all a hug goodbye. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"So... anything sensible?" says Lily, laughing as she turns to head out the door.

"Touche," I mutter, watching my best friend, my best friend's boyfriend, the man I am currently snogging and a woman I once accidentally snogged walk away toward what could very well be their doom.

Cheery, I know.

 **Thursday**

 **January 8, 1978**

 **Gryffindor Common Room**

I'm only writing Thursday because it's so bloody late that it's got to be Thursday by now. I don't have a lot of time, and nothing's really been explained to me either, but I don't know all that much.

I'll start from the beginning.

I had finally gone to sleep after waiting for hours for the four to get back, tired of Black's relentless pacing and the morose look on Lottie's face as she sat slumped on the sofa.

It felt like I had barely been asleep for five minutes when I was awoken by a frantic Lottie, yelling something about Lily and blood and a whole lot of gibberish. Regardless of what she was saying, I had enough common sense to be concerned, so I ran down the stairs to find the four who had gone finally returned, although rather worse for wear.

Lily had a long, deep looking gash down her forearm, blood dried around the edges and her face was pinched and white.

"Oh, thank Merlin, Eve. None of us are as good at healing spells and I didn't want to make it worse," said Lily, her face streaked with mud and sweat beading on her forehead.

As quick as I could I extended her forearm and grabbed my wand, saying _vulnera sanentur_ with as much precision as I could muster, and then watched as her skin started knitting itself back together. _Tergeo,_ I muttered, wanting any remains of the injury to go away so that I wouldn't have to think about that fact that Lily had been hurt at all.

"Sit down," I said, walking her over to the armchair and doing my best to stop James from crowding her too much. "What happened?" I asked.

At this point I could only see James and Lily, as well as Black and Lottie who had apparently stayed up to wait for them to return. "Where's Remus and Marlene?" Lottie asked.

"I'm not sure," James said, pressing his lips together and closing his eyes. When he opened them again all he said was, "They disapparated without us."

James was interrupted from his growing panic by the sound of the door to the Common Room slamming open, and a rather dishevelled Remus bounding in and coming to a standstill just before he reached us. "Oh, good, you're here," he said, bracing himself against the sofa. "Although..."

As Black and I rushed over to see if Remus was okay the cause behind his 'although' became apparent in the form of Professor McGonagall striding into the room, wrapped in a dressing gown and looking like she'd rather be eating flobberworm mucus than dealing with whatever was about to ensue.

"Miss Evans, Mr Potter, please come with me," she said, watching the two carefully as Lily slowly ambled over to where she was standing. "As for the rest of you... Stay here, and _do not_ go anywhere. I will return presently."

So that is what has happened, and I have taken the opportunity to write it all down for you before the wrath of McGonagall destroys us all.

Speaking of McGonagall... Here she is.

 _ **AN: WOW a new chapter? It's a Christmas miracle! Don't worry guys, I'm as keen for new material as you are...**_

 _ **In the meantime... Happy New Year! And happy new chapter!**_

 _ **This chapter wouldn't be here today without the help of the fabulous Brooke, who has been schooling me in the art of writing sexual tension, nor without the love and inspiration from Catriona and Izzie, my trusty editors and moral support givers, nor without the support from Lexo, a fellow fanfic connoisseur and marauder enthusiast.**_

 _ **And, speaking of the chapter - WOWEE! What a lot has occurred and what a lot SHALL OCCUR and what a lot we want to occur! There's a WHOLE LOT of things occurring and I can not wait to hear your thoughts on all of these occurrences!**_

 _ **You're all amazing and each of you play a part in encouraging me as an author and as a person and Eva and I couldn't do it without you!**_

 _ **OXO**_


	28. The Wrath of McGonagall

**Thursday**

 **January 8, 1978**

 **Dumbledore's Office**

If this was a book I was writing, and not my most Secret Diary, I would never have left my last entry on that note. Could you imagine if someone was reading this and read everything that happened to Lily and the others and then I just left it on what could be deemed a most awful cliffhanger and then for some reason they couldn't just immediately read my next entry? Good thing the only person who is reading this is me, right! Well, there had better _not_ be anybody else reading this. If there's one thing I care about, it's my privacy.

Speaking of said cliffhanger, I should recap what has just happened.

 _ **A Short List Compiled by Evelyn K. O. Bishop Concerning the Events that Occurred Shortly Before Being Dragged to Professor A. P. W. B. Dumbledore's office by Professor M. McGonagall:**_

 **1.** I was rudely awoken by Lottie, who dragged me downstairs.

 **2.** I was surprised to find Lily bleeding quite profusely from her forearm, causing me to do my best to heal it to avoid her dying from blood loss. You know, the usual.

 **3.** Lottie, Lily, James, Black and I subtly panicked whilst waiting for Remus and Marlene to reveal their fate.

 **4.** Remus revealed his fate, and, also, McGonagall.

 **5.** McGonagall left with Lily, James and Remus, leaving Black, Lottie and I to panic and enter into a reassuring group huddle on the couch. Never to be repeated.

 **6.** McGonagall returned, leading us to Dumbledore's office, and then left, leaving Lottie, Black and I, as well as Lily, James, Remus and thankfully Marlene anxiously waiting for someone to come and let us know if we were going to die or perhaps even be expelled. Quite a series of events for one to go through in the space of an hour or so, I might add.

This brings me up to date.

We are now all sitting here silently aside from the scratching of my quill. I may have noticed Lottie giving me a couple of looks about the quill scratching but what does she expect me to do, not write it down?

Oh thank Merlin, McGonagall's back, and Dumbledore is too. I thought perhaps the other heads of house would be here but they're not, so I can't say for certain if we'll be getting expelled.

"Alright," said McGonagall. "I am going to need you all to tell me, one at a time, the events that have led to what happened tonight, as well as every detail from tonight's encounter. Perhaps Mr Potter, you would like to begin?"

Potter stared blankly at McGonagall for a second before clearing his throat, saying, "Oh, right. Sorry Professor... Um, I guess it all started... Oh. When did it start?"

"When Eva overheard Snape and I think maybe Avery talking in the library?" said Lily.

Everyone turned expectantly to me. "Actually, I think it started on my birthday," I said. "I didn't really think about it at the time, but when I sneaked into the Slytherin Common Room (the professors raised their eyebrows at that) I overhead some of them talking about needing to brew something in time for something. Later in the library I overhead them talking about it again, a secret plan for something nefarious of some sort. After that I think we agreed to keep our eyes on them, to try and find out what they were up to. Snape and Nott and Avery and Regulus Black, that is."

"And you didn't think to perhaps inform me of this?" asked McGonagall, her voice dangerously shrill.

"We thought that if we talked to you or Dumbledore about it you'd put a stop to it and we wouldn't be able to catch them and we'd have no idea what they were planning anymore," said James. "That was why we started our own investigation. Sirius and Eva followed them a few nights ago and found out that they were brewing polyjuice potion and that they had something planned for tonight. Then we thought we'd follow them and stop whatever it was but we never thought that... That it would all happen how it did."

"Very well," said McGonagall. "That's how it all came about, but I think it's quite important that we talk about what happened tonight at the Macdonald house. Miss McKinnon, perhaps?"

Macdonald house? That was new information to me. To be frank, I'm honestly a bit nervous to hear this story.

"Well," Marley began, "It was decided that James, Lily, Remus and I would be the ones to go and follow them, so we um, we-"

James shot a sharp glance at Marlene, who paused for a few seconds before continuing her story.

"We... followed them outside to the gates, where they stood talking for a while."

"How did you know where they were going?" asked McGonagall. "I need all of the details, please. I understand you have been through an ordeal tonight, but unfortunately every detail is necessary."

"Right, sorry. We, um, we waited outside their common room," Marlene continued, giving James a subtle but pointed look. "Them being Michael Nott, Irvyn Avery and Don Mulciber."

"How can that be? I have been informed that both Nott and Avery have been serving detention with Professor Slughorn all night," said McGonagall, "and Mulciber has been in detention with myself."

She was now pacing back and forth behind Dumbledore's desk, listening to the story with what seemed to be a considerable about of consternation.

To be fair, she was probably justified in her response. I was feeling a bit nervous myself. I could feel the vibrations from Black on my right, tapping his foot on the ground, and the air felt rather heavy for a Thursday night.

"I don't know about that," said Marlene, "because they were definitely the ones we followed."

"And not Severus Snape or perhaps Regulus Black? I know you've mentioned those two as having been a part of this."

I could see the knuckles of Black's hand going white as he gripped the armrest next to me. I suppose the mention of his brother wasn't helping ease whatever he was feeling right now. I slowly rested my hand on top of his, and after a moments I could feel him relax more into his chair. I can also now feel him looking at me as Marlene speaks, but I am too busy focusing on writing in this with just one hand to give him any more attention. Besides, I'm only trying to let him know that we're all feeling on edge, not just him.

"No," continued Marlene, "It was definitely those three."

"Definitely," James agreed. "Without a doubt."

"Very well," said McGonagall, peering down at Dumbledore over the top of her glasses. They both seemed to do that quite a bit, I've noticed. Perhaps they're trying to start a trend. "Continue the story please, Marlene."

"Well, we followed them to the gate where we hid and listened to them for a bit, because we didn't actually know what they were going to do and the fact that they were outside of the gate probably meant that they were going to apparate somewhere, and if they did we realised we wouldn't be able to follow them. Luckily for us, I suppose, they spent a few minutes laughing about what they were going to do, and I can't remember exactly what they said but they talked about how they wanted to hurt the Macdonald family in order to prove themselves. They didn't say You Know Who's name exactly but we all knew that's what they meant. After that they apparated to what we assumed to be the Macdonald house and both Lily and I had been there before so Lily apparated with James and Remus, which was a bit risky but they were all fine, while I ran back to go get Mary, seeing as her family was in danger and all."

"And at any point did you think perhaps you should contact, say, Professor Dumbledore or myself?"

"Well we were rather preoccupied with wanting to stop the lads before they got up to too much mischief," James responded.

"We didn't quite realise what we were walking into," Remus added, finally contributing to the conversation.

I took the chance to look him over. I realised that with everything that had occurred I hadn't actually spoken to him or ask if he was okay. Poor Remus. I'd probably be a terrible girlfriend if he ever properly asked me.

Remus resumed the story. "When we apparated to the Macdonald's it was quiet at first, and we took refuge behind a group of trees near the edge of the property to sort of work out a plan. It was dead quiet, and it didn't look like anything had happened, so we decided to use cloaking spells and split up and try to find them. We were walking up to the front door when we heard shouting in the house, so we ran in and found Mary's father bleeding on the floor and her mother frantically shouting healing spells over him. I stayed to help them and Lily and James ran back outside to try and find Avery."

"We were still cloaked," said James, so when we got outside they didn't notice us straight away, which was a rather good thing because in the time it had taken us to run inside and back out, a few proper Death Eaters had apparated to the scene, and were casting the dark mark over the house, saying how pleased the Dark Lord would be when he arrived."

"Oh my," said McGonagall, finally sitting down. "I suppose the story gets worse from here."

"Unfortunately," James said, continuing. "Lily thought that it might be wise to get out of there before it got any worse, so we ran back inside to get Remus and Mary's parents, but a few of them noticed and followed us inside. They all had these awful masks on that looked like they made them in arts and crafts, so we don't know who they were, but Lily and I battled it out with them anyway. Luckily for us, I suppose, we're both rather good at magic, so we were holding our own okay as Remus helped Mary's parents apparate to St. Mungo's. We stunned and disarmed the two Death Eaters who had come inside with us, and then went back outside again as there was an awfully large amount of shouting."

"That's where we came in," Marlene said. "Mary and I had apparated to find that her front yard had three death eaters just milling about, who upon noticing us appearing out of nowhere, proceeded to attack us, quite rudely I thought. We were struggling a bit, having been slightly unprepared, when James and Lily ran out the front door, and joined the fray. They shouted something about Mary's parents being safe, which the Death Eaters didn't particularly like the sound of, so they started really throwing themselves into it, unforgiveables and all the like. Mary's house has this sort of wooded area in front of it, so we were all running through that, shouting spells at each other. That's when You-Know-Who apparated out of nowhere to discover that whatever he had expected to find had gone terribly wrong for him, which was not a very fun experience for us, nor the three Death Eaters we were duelling."

"Are you saying that your fought against Lord Voldemort himself?" asked McGonagall.

"Well, a little bit," said James. "When he got there I think it took him a second to get his bearings, upon which he strode into the woods, stunning the Death Eaters left and right, clearly not particularly chuffed with the way things had handled themselves. I yelled for everyone to get out of there so Mary and Marlene apparated straight away but Lily, the brave idiot," James looked at her fondly, "stayed with me."

"Someone had to make sure you didn't kill yourself," she said.

"And I didn't, because at that point Voldemort made it quite clear he wasn't super keen on everything that had occurred-"

"That's one way to put it," Lily muttered.

"-and proceeded to start monologuing about how much he was not enjoying himself. We didn't really care, we just wanted to get out of there, so we apparated and came back here, where we went straight to the Gryffindor Common Room."

"To your Common Room!" McGonagall practically shouted.

"Well, Lily had been hit with a spell during everything that went down and we didn't want to wake Pomfrey, so we went and got Eva because she's really good at healing charms, and she patched Lily's arm right up."

"Oh good Merlin," McGonagall stood up and hurried over to Lily, grabbing her arms and peering at them intently. "Are you telling me you healed her, you healed this arm, Evelyn?"

"Um, yes?" I replied. I had been intently scribbling down the whole conversation (I'm really good at writing quickly) and hadn't really anticipated being asked any questions.

"Good," said McGonagall, going to sit down again. "And I suppose that's the end of the story, then? The rest of the details being that as soon as Remus returned from St. Mungo's, having given the care of the Macdonalds into the hands of _professionals_ he rushed, quite wisely, to wake me up."

"Where's Mary?" I asked, suddenly realising she had been a part of the story, but wasn't with us.

"Oh, she's in the Hospital Wing," said Marlene. "She got hit just before we apparated, or else we would have stayed too. Pomfrey's looking after."

"As she should," McGonagall said, "So her job entails."

Dumbledore chose this moment to finally say something, standing up and placing a reassuring hand on McGonagall's shoulder. "After hearing what was a fascinating and troubling tale recounted in full, I believe it would be best for all of you students to get a good night's sleep."

"But-" James started, but was interrupted by Dumbledore.

"But nothing," he said. "There is little else anyone can do tonight except recover, so I think it would be best if you would all go and retire. James, if you wish you may walk Lily to the Hospital Wing, but I expect you to head straight to bed afterwards."

James nodded mutely.

"As for the rest of you, we'll discuss the repercussions-"

"-Consequences-" McGonagall rebuked.

"-of the night's events tomorrow, after you have attended all of your classes for the day. Are we agreed?"

"Yessir," we muttered.

I for one was glad of Dumbledore's decision. Mostly because it meant that I got to go back to bloody bed.

Also, I didn't have the energy to dwell on everything tonight.

I let go of Black's hand, having only just realised I was still holding it, and was the first person to stand up to leave.

I think this has been enough to work through in one day.

 **Friday**

 **January 9, 1978**

 **Great Hall**

We all appeared for breakfast, bleary eyed and not at all prepared for the day ahead of us. Even Peter, who hadn't even been hauled to Dumbledore's office with the rest of us (he made the smart decision to stay asleep) was looking troubled, an observation that became increasingly clear the further James got into to his 'short' recount of last night's events for him.

We were all rather troubled. We've had a lot of talk about actually doing things to fight against Voldemort and his supporters but I don't think we were really prepared for what that would actually look like.

Also, you know when you go through a really intense experience and then you go to sleep and when you wake up it kind of just feels like a dream? That's what it feels like now. Some sort of awful hazy dream memory.

I don't really know how Dumbledore expects us to just go about our classes today. I've got Muggle Studies first thing and honestly I don't really feel like going, which is weird because normally I love Muggle Studies. Besides, it means I'm going to have to talk to Remus and that's just going to add a whole other layer of confusing and complicated to my day.

I think I might just go and get all my things now and head there early so I can seem like I am just incredibly engrossed in my classwork when he arrives. Good idea, Eva.

 **Friday**

 **January 9, 1978**

 **Muggle Studies**

I've been here for twenty minutes and Professor Bunt just walked in and did a sort of surprised hop thing but didn't say anything about my preemptive presence in his classroom. Bunt hasn't really communicated with me all that much since the paperweight incident. Good old Archibald probably still feels bad about inadvertently sending me to the Hospital Wing, which probably also explains why I got 104% on my last essay (although that may have just been because it was a bloody good essay).

Oh Merlin's oily glass eye, it seems that Remus likes to get to class early too. Actually, why am I surprised? He always gets here before me. Bollocks. I didn't think about that.

"Eva!" He looked surprised to see me. Probably because he was. "What are you doing here? You normally only get here just right on time."

"Oh, I just wanted to start learning early, you know, get my mind off of... things."

"Of course," he said, putting his books down and slouching down into his seat. "I understand, we're all feeling a bit down after last night."

"Right. Last night."

"Something else on your mind?"

"No," I said, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye. "Although, I didn't really get a chance to talk to you about it. How are you going?"

Now that I was taking the chance to look at him, and look at him properly, I could see the way that his brow was creased, the angles under his eyes and cheek bones more shadowed than usual, the limp, knotted hair.

I'd spent so much time worrying about myself that I'd sort of forgotten the other person in this relationship. If I've learned anything through my recent experiences with Remus, is that he doesn't deserve to be neglected; not by me, and not by anyone.

"I'm okay," he said after a moment. "Mary's parents are safe, which is what's important."

"You're important too," was my well thought out response. I was being honest. I did think he was important. I do think he's important.

"You really think so?"

"Of course," I said. "A lot of people think you're important."

"Huh," was his only response, most likely because Cillian Gallagher, Horus Harris and Ewan Macmillan walked into the classroom.

It was a bit awkwardly quiet after that, so I decided not to say anything further and just focus on reading my textbook.

After everyone else slowly started arriving and the classroom got a bit louder, Remus turned to me and asked, "Hey Eva, would you want to come to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?"

I couldn't think of any logical reason to say no, so I said, "Yes, of course, Remus."

And that was that.

 **Saturday**

 **January 10, 1978**

 **The Three Broomsticks**

Most professors argue against visiting Hogsmeade as much as me and my compatriots have been doing during our NEWT year, but let's be honest, I spend so much time studying I think I'm allowed to have a little break now and again. Although, I can't really speak for my compatriots, one of whom I know only got 52% on their last Potions essay. This preamble leads to, nay, begs the question of _why_ all of my friends are crowded around a table with me at the Three Broomsticks, heartily drinking butterbeer, when at least five of them should be studying.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we, and discuss the series of events that have led to this shameful afternoon.

It began with Remus and I taking a friendly, casual jaunt toward the Hogsmeade train, where upon arrival we sat down in a little compartment and just chatted as we travelled to the wizarding village.

Remus was looking forward to visiting Zonkos. I think he had a bit of repressed emotion to work through and the array of delights offered at the joke shop would be a good way to express those feelings. That, or he just wanted to go to Zonkos. I'm pretty sure Lily and Lottie were spying on us, possibly because I kept seeing Lottie places around me and then an arm pulling her back out of sight.

Honestly, I didn't really have a leg to stand on if it came to complaining about it, because let's not forget the time Black and I followed James and Lily around Hogsmeade all day too.

Besides, I wasn't really mad about it. It would cut down the time it would take explaining the explicit details of our date to them later.

Date.

Now that I was thinking about it, this was our first kind of official date as just the two of us to a location that wasn't Hogwarts. It was okay so far. Remus is lovely, and I clearly enjoy spending time with him, but I found myself getting quite distracted.

Remus knew me well enough not to suggest Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, something I was rather grateful for, so we went to Honeydukes where he tried to pick out something sweet for me.

"I feel like you're not a coconut ice person," he lead with, which was a positive start.

"You'd be correct," I replied, not saying anything as his gaze flittered over the fizzing whizbees.

"Not nougat either," he continued. "Nor pepper imps... I don't think peppermint toads either."

I was rather intrigued with what he'd end up deciding on.

"Sugar quills!" He decided on at last.

"Mm, lovely choice," I said, slightly disappointed.

I think he must have read my tone, for he replied, saying, "Are you sure?"

"Yes! I think sugar quills are lovely... Although my favourites are definitely fizzing whizzbees, and I quite like toffee caramels at the moment too."

"Oh, bollocks, um, sorry," he said. "I can't believe I forgot about the fizzing whizzbees. We can get those instead if you'd like?"

"No, no, I already have plenty at home. Sugar quills will be lovely."

"Well, if you're sure?"

"Definitely. I'll get you some chocolate wands to match."

"Good choice," he replied, brightening up a bit. "I find chocolate a good cure for when you're feeling down."

 _Interesting philosophy,_ I thought as I grabbed some from the shelf.

We bought our goods and headed back outside again, chatting as we visited Scrivenshafts (I had run out of parchment _again_ ) and Spintwitches (I always enjoyed looking at the newest Quidditch gear) before we waltzed into Tomes and Scrolls (we both wanted to look at the books). To my surprise we ran into none other than Sirius Black, shiftily perusing the bookshelves.

"Padfoot," said Remus, suddenly enough that Black jumped and dropped the book he was holding, "What in Merlin's name are you doing in a bookshop?"

"Looking for a book," he replied, tripping over his feet in his haste to pick up the book he had dropped.

"Yes, but you don't read."

"I read!" said Black, seemingly affronted.

"No, _we_ read," Remus said, gesturing to him and myself. "You, most certainly, do not."

"That's preposterous," said Black, blinking at me as if he'd only just realised I was there. "I read all the time."

"Then what's the last book you read?"

"Hogwarts, A History."

"Name one fact from that book."

Black paused, apparently caught out. "You've read it, I don't need to tell you what's in it."

"Ha!" said Remus. "I knew you were lying!"

I figured it was my time to add to the conversation. "So, Black, if you apparently don't read, then what book are you holding?"

"Huh?" he said, putting his hands behind his back. "I'm not reading anything."

Remus reached around behind him and grabbed the book Black was doing a terrible job of hiding. " _A History of Enchanted Muggle Transportation Machines,_ by- Merlin's beard, Sirius, are you trying to charm your motorbike?"

"Again, preposterous!" Black replied, grabbing the book back. "Even if I was, it's not technically illegal, I don't think, and that's only hypothetical, because that's not something that I'm doing, I'm just merely interested in history, a thing that I am interested in. So, you're all wrong."

"You have a motorbike?" I asked.

"You wouldn't be able to guess from all the posters on the wall around his bed," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"I can't say that I've spent much time in your dormitory, Remus, and again, Black, you have a motorbike?"

"I bought her at the beginning of the year," he said proudly. "She just needs a bit of tweaking and she'll be ready to go."

"She?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Of course," he winked, "I've named her Evelyn, after you and your ferocious little spirit."

"No he hasn't," Remus interjected, grabbing my arm. "He named her Rosmerta, and I don't think I need to explain why. Anyway, let's go Eva, we've got things to do, places to see. We can leave Sirius to his books."

"Right," I said, being dragged out of the store by Remus.

Black just stood there, cradling his book with a queer little smile on his face.

Once we got outside, I realised we never even looked at any books. "Can we go back inside, Remus? I didn't even get to look in the Charms section!"

"Oh, no, best not to, let's go to the Three Broomsticks or something."

"But the books!"

"I mean, do you really need more books?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"Well aren't you two jolly," said Black, exiting Tomes and Scrolls.

We didn't really know what to say to that, so no one said anything for what seemed a long while.

"It's a bit chilly, isn't it," I said, wishing I hadn't forgotten my scarf in my dormitory.

"Rather," Remus replied, also scarf-less.

Black, on the other hand, casually unwrapped his scarf from around his neck and held it out to me. "Wouldn't want you to freeze to death, would we Evelyn?"

"Thanks," Remus muttered, probably wishing he'd thought a bit more ahead.

I took the scarf and immediately felt warmer, so that was nice.

"The Three Broomsticks, then?" asked Black.

Remus nodded mutely so we trudged along to the pub, smiling hello to Madam Rosmerta as we walked in the door.

To my surprise, James, Lily, Peter, Lottie, Marley, Alice and Frank were all crowded around a table near the back, in the midst of what seemed to be an intense discussion.

"I disagree-" began James, but was interrupted by Lily who at this point stood up and slammed her hands down on the table.

"No. No. There is no way that Murphy and Selwyn would be a better couple than Murphy and Mercier-Roussel. She's a divination teacher for Merlin's sake! You think Murphy would rather be with a fortune teller than a scholar of language and history? You're being ridiculous!"

"What about Rowle-" Peter started.

"No one cares, Peter, we're discussing James' absolutely ridiculous notion of professor Selwyn as Murphy's ideal life partner!"

"Hey guys!" said Black, thankfully interrupting the conversation. "This sounds fun and all but let's cool it down a notch, you know? People are looking, and I'm pretty sure one of them is professor Bunt, and nobody wants that."

We looked behind us to see Bunt staring at us over his newspaper.

Lily glared at Black for a second before sitting down and crossing her arms. "Fine. We can end the conversation, but this is not settled."

"No, I think I see your side now," James wisely responded. "Selwyn's much too ditsy."

"Exactly!" said Lily, "And-"

"Butterbeer, anyone?" asked Black, thankfully putting an end to what could have been another long rant.

I sat down with Remus amongst a chorus of 'yeses' and watched as Black went off to get a round of butterbeer.

It is upon Black's return to the table that the beginning of this part of the story began, and hence you understand why I think some of my friends would be better off doing their potions essay.

I wish I had a fizzing whizzbee right now.

 _ **AN: Hello my wonderful readers!**_

 _ **In the time since I last posted I have started university and gone to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in Melbourne and it absolutely BLEW MY MIND! If I wasn't in love with Scorpius already, I definitely am now!**_

 _ **Also... sorry to leave you on such a cliffhanger, but I think y'all have gotten used to it by now.**_

 _ **To any new readers, I'm glad you've joined us! To any old readers, thank you for sticking around! I love and appreciate all of you and thank you so much for giving this story a chance and for committing to it despite how long it takes me to update! I love reading all your comments and messages and it inspires me to keep writing for you all!**_

 _ **OXO**_


	29. Life Reaches a Whole New Low

**Saturday**

 **January 17, 1978**

 **The Library**

You know what's interesting? Look at the date. Exactly! It's been an entire week since my last entry. The reason behinds this is of course because all of our Professors think that because we're back from holidays that we're prepared and excited to do MORE ASSIGNMENTS. This is, of course, partly true because I have an excuse to live in the Library, but at the same time... I have things to do, you know? Anyway, I have decided to compile a short(ish) list of all of the things of interest that have occurred this week in order to be more time-efficient (a phrase Murphy has been drumming into us over the past few days).

 _ **A Complete List of the Somewhat Intriguing Events of the Past Week Compiled by One Evelyn K. O. Bishop.**_

 **1.** The Bloody Prat Quartet apparently thought it had been too long since their last shenanigan and set off dungbombs in every single Common Room _including_ their own, much to the annoyance of Lily and I. James received a rather stern talking to (a rather stern yelling to, really) right in the middle of the Great Hall by both Lily and Marlene which was entertaining to watch, to say the least. Black was the only one with enough sense to get out of there when he saw them coming, smoke pouring out of their ears, and Remus just lifted his book higher over his face, so James got the brunt of it.

 **2.** I took it upon myself to tell Black off during our Monday Potions class, which went down surprisingly well. That is, to say, it went less awfully than usual, as there were no threats of hexes and only two smirky glances.

 **3.** I gave Mark Abery another tutoring session! I figured it had been a while and it would be nice to mix it up a bit, so we went through our charms together and I was rather pleased to see that his charm work was much improved. He also told me that he decided that the pairing of himself and Julie Ansen was not quite as wonderful as he imagined it would be, and they broke up. He apparently is working on a plan to ask out Louise McKendrick which I think has been a long time coming, and will hopefully stop her giving me death glares every time Mark talks to me.

 **4.** On the Mark thing, he had the BLATANT AUDACITY to ask me the most ridiculous question I have ever heard in my whole entire life. Would anyone like to guess what it is? Because there is no way in Merlin's soggy, yellow dentures that a question such as that cross the mind of a sane, rational person. Mark dared to ask me if I, one Evelyn Bishop, have _feelings_ for one Sirius Black, my bane-of-existence-turned-friend-and-confidant.

 **5.** McGonagall, much to our surprise, did _not_ give us detention for the rest of the year, but did indeed give us a long lecture about our actions, describing us as 'foolhardy hooligans', 'irrationally brave' and 'altogether idiotic Gryffindors,' which sounds like a collection of fun band names. If only I played guitar.

 **6.** Remus is being cute but kind of clingy. I want to be able to talk to him about things like we used to but I feel like I can't at the moment and it's really confusing.

 **7.** Let's go back to the Mark Abery thing, because I have not been able to stop thinking about it _all week!_ I cannot get over what a ridiculous idea it would be that I would ever have feelings for Black, the stupid, dumb, foolhardy, arrogant idiot, especially when I am already dating Remus, the love of my life. RIDICULOUS!

Well, I think that brings us up to speed.

On another note, it's Lily's birthday in about two weeks, which means that I have two weeks to plan her party. It seems the general party trend has been, as my mother would say, to go 'above and beyond,' but honestly, I doubt Lily gives a hippogriff's leg as to whether or not she has a large birthday bash, especially after everything that's just gone on.

Oh, something else I haven't mentioned. The Slytherins. We, of course, were quite adamant as to the identities of those who were the guilty party to the incident at the Macdonald house, but it seems there is a bit of an issue with properly identifying the culprits. The issue is that multiple professors can swear that the guilty parties we named were in fact serving detention at the time, and as we have no 'hard proof' they can't really face any real retribution.

This, of course, all sounds like utter poppycock to me, and also to Sirius Black and James Potter, who spent half an hour raging around Dumbledore's office screaming bloody murder, all for Dumbledore to say, "It's out of my hands, but I will be keeping a close eye on them."

Lily made a frustratingly good point that the Ministry is practically run by the pureblood elitists and that if Dumbledore were to do anything against their wishes the board could have him removed, which would be less than ideal. Hence, it kind of is out of his hands.

So, we've decided to keep an eye on them ourselves, especially since Mary's decided to take some time off of school. Lily's made it her personal mission to watch Donnan Mulciber's every move, as apparently he did something awful to Mary last year and she wants to make sure he doesn't do anything again.

Oh, speaking of awful, here comes Black... and is that... Aislin Murphy? For Merlin's sake, I thought he had given that up! They had better not be snogging, that girl is no good for him. She's a Hufflepuff for starters, and she's awfully petty. I wouldn't put it past her to do something awful to anyone who got in her way. Perhaps that's why they call Hufflepuffs hardworking, hey? She's certainly trying to reach her goal, that is, if her goal is Sirius Black.

Anyway, I think I'm just going to follow them, because it's not really like him to just come into the library, you know? Besides, I need a break from my assignments and I'm allowed to talk to my friends, aren't I?

 **Saturday**

 **January 17, 1978**

 **The Library**

So, the craziest thing just happened. Aislin Murphy had a complete meltdown, and I witnessed the whole thing. This was partly because I was spying on her, and partly because at one point she was so loud that the whole library must have heard her.

This is what happened.

I followed Black and Aislin through the bookshelves and then stopped abruptly as Aislin giggled and grabbed his hand, spinning him around and pushing him against the bookshelves. I could see Black's face from where I was standing, peering through a gap in the bookshelf, and he seemed surprised but made no efforts to stop what she was doing.

"I've missed you, Siri," she said, and I almost threw up into my mouth.

"Yeah, Ais, um, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about," Black began.

"No talking," Aislin said, leaning up and pressing her mouth against his.

I just kind of stood there as they started snogging, somewhat intrigued and somewhat disgusted. Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't just standing there watching them snog, because that would be creepy, but for some wretched reason I couldn't get what Mark Abery said out of my head. For the first time in my life, I was thinking about what it would be like to...

Merlin, I can't even say it.

Not that there's anything to say.

Sorry, I just almost threw up again.

 _ **Remus Lupin.**_

Moving on.

So, as I was attempting to say, Aislin and Black were snogging against the shelves for a short while before Black just kind of ducked his head out of the way and said, "Hold up a sec, Aislin."

"What is it?" she whined.

"Well, the thing is, is that I brought you here to tell you that I think our little rendezvous need to end... So, this sort of thing? It needs to stop."

"Are you kidding me?" She took a step back. "You're kidding me, right?"

"No, I'm not."

Aislin paused for a moment, as if working out what to say. Actually, she probably was working out what to say. Never mind, then.

"Is it because of her?" she finally asked.

Something undiscernable flashed across Black's face as he said, "No, don't be silly."

"Because she's never going to love you, you have to know that."

"I said it's not because of her."

Ooh, there's a her? Now, some people have been known to refer to me as slightly oblivious sometimes, but honestly, I never would have guessed that Sirius Black, lover of all women, would ever want to be the lover of just one woman. Poor girl. I wonder who she is?

"You're a real git, Black," she said, before spinning on her heels and storming out of the library, yelling obscenities at him all the way.

Black stayed leaning against the bookshelves for a few seconds before a little bit too dramatically sinking down to the floor. And people say _I'm_ a drama queen.

I decided to leave him in his state of pensive thought and head back to my study, partly because I needed to get some study done, partly because I thought it would be impolite to say, "So, Black, how's it going? Break up with Aislin lately? A girl you haven't been seeing romantically but she still really likes you despite your probably no-strings-attached relationship? Also, heard everything that just happened, privacy shmivacy, am I right? Ooh, heard you might have proper feelings for a proper person, ain't that crazy! Who knew, right? So radical. Anyway, let me know if you want to talk about it, or..."

I think you can see why I chose to head back to my study spot.

Anyway, despite my heading back to my study spot, studying away, within a few minutes I saw Sirius Black pop his head out from behind the bookshelves, and I made the terrible mistake of making eye contact with him. This, of course, led to him coming over to my private study spot.

I didn't have any issue with him coming to talk to me, my issue was with the fact that I knew something about him that I wasn't supposed to know.

This, of course, was a cause of great stress in my life as I furiously scribbled onto my parchment, hoping that the eye contact thing was a mere blip and he was thinking _'that's enough of Eva for one day'_ and wouldn't come over.

Alas, alack.

"Eva!" Black smiled, sitting down on the other side of the window seat. I didn't think it was pertinent to mention before, but my study spot is one of the aforementioned window seats, also known as the most prime study spot in the whole building. It's nice because of the natural light, when it's not snowing of course, and today was one of those miraculous days where the sun was shining, and I could see clearly down on the grounds below.

"Hi, Black," I said, casually as one can. "What brings you to this neck of the woods?"

"Oh, not much," he replied, "I was just in the area and saw you and I thought I'd come say hi."

"Oh, well hi, then."

"Hi."

I kept writing, hoping if I pretended he wasn't there then he wouldn't be.

After a few moments I looked up and found him just looking at me, an odd little smile on his face.

I felt my cheeks redden, much to my consternation.

He was sitting in the way he always does, feet on furniture and as relaxed as possible. His arms rested on his knees and his hands dangled down, long and lithe. His hair swept across his forehead and brushed against his eyes, eyes like the moon on a clear night, and they were still looking right at me.

We sat there looking at each other for a few seconds before I snapped out of it. "What are you looking at, Black?"

"You," was his response.

"Well, stop. I've got work to do and it's distracting."

"Alright, I'll look out the window."

I looked up again and he was looking out the window, much to my relief. I looked out through the rose coloured glass and saw Remus walking across the grounds in our direction.

I waved instinctively, trying to get his attention, but Black grabbed my wrist and said, "No, don't."

At that exact moment Remus looked up, but his face went stony.

Black sighed, letting go of my wrist. "I'm gonna go, let you get back to your study."

"I mean, it's fine," I said. "You're not that distracting."

"You may be the first person in the world to say that," he said with a laugh. "I've got things to do anyway."

"Alright, well, bye then."

"Farewell and good tidings, Evelyn," he said, waving goodbye and disappearing past a bookshelf.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to concentrate on studying again for the rest of the hour.

 **Wednesday**

 **January 21, 1978**

 **The Library**

If you were to ask me if I live in the Library then the answer would be yes. Although, I don't sleep or eat in the Library, so now that I think about it I don't technically live here.

The point being, is that I have been spending an awfully large amount of time in the Library of late, mostly to do my assignments but also to have some time with my own thoughts.

I've been a bit at war with my thoughts recently. You know when your brain starts thinking something, and you're like, 'no brain, that's the opposite of what I want to do,' but your brain just kind of winks at you and keeps going? Well that's sort of what's been happening. I'm not going to write it down, because if I were to write it down then it would give life to the thought and I really don't want to do that, but I still need to get it off my chest in the only way I know how.

Now that that's been said, let's discuss more pertinent issues. For example, Remus Lupin.

You're probably aware, but Remus is my boyfriend. Actually, we never have had that conversation... We've just, well, been.

Let's start again.

You're probably aware, but Remus has been seeing me romantically. This, of course, is something that I have been looking forward to for a considerable amount of time. Now I think of myself as relatively self-aware, but just because I'm self-aware doesn't mean that I want to be. Again, I should get to the point of all of this: I don't know if I love Remus.

Phew.

That was hard for me to write. If this was a book, I think the correct term would be _character development._

So obviously I love Remus, but there have been some things I have been noticing in the past few weeks that are causing me to doubt the nature of this love.

 _ **A Brief List of All of the Things that Have Happened Recently that Has Been Making One Evelyn K. O. Bishop Doubt the Nature of Her Love for One Remus. J. Lupin.**_

 **1.** The snogging. Now, let me clarify, the snogging isn't bad, there's just a lot of that and not much of anything else. It's like Remus doesn't know how healthy relationships work. Actually, he probably doesn't, which is... well, it's a little bit sad. Let's not focus on that.

 **2.** The talking. As mentioned previously, there hasn't been an overwhelming amount of conversation, and that was one of the things that made me love Remus in the first place.

 **3.** The moodiness. Now, I know he's got a werewolf sized chip on his shoulder, but I don't understand why he feels the need to get grumpy at me regularly for doing basic things like hanging out with my friends. Let's remember the Hogsmeade occasion where we ran into Black at a bookstore and then Remus hurried us outside before we could even buy anything, and then got upset when I wanted to go back in.

 **4.** I realised I don't really need him to help me with my Ancient Runes homework after all.

That's it. Everything else about Remus is good. He's still as handsome as ever, as intelligent, witty, adventurous. He still spends more time reading than I do, which believe me, is a _very_ attractive quality.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm re-evaluating a bit. I think with everything that's happened recently I've realised that I need to start thinking a bit more seriously about things. We've got actual, real life problems to sort out. It wasn't too long ago that Remus himself was involved in a life-threatening series of events.

So now that that's all out in the air, onto a more cheerful topic.

Lily's birthday is on the 30th of January, so nine days away now.

For some reason, I always end up being the party planning committee. I think this is because I'm the only one who isn't Head Girl that finishes their homework on time, so I apparently have the most free time. The issue with this is that I don't like planning parties. You know what? I'm going to go find Lottie and force her to help me. Homework shmomework.

That's a lie. I've finished my homework for the day.

 **Wednesday**

 **January 21, 1978**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dormitory**

I have successfully located Charlotte Ansen! Lottie has been apparently 'studying hard' in our dorm, but she's got no books open and was napping when I walked in, so I'm somewhat doubtful of the legitimacy of that claim.

She woke up when I came in and so far has seemed quite glad to have an excuse not to be studying.

"What about an elephant," she suggested. "We could have an elephant at the party!"

"I'm gonna let you take a moment to actually think about that, and while you're re-evaluating your life choices, I'm going to suggest some legitimate options."

Lottie pouted but seemed eager to hear my suggestions.

"Christmas themed."

"No. It's January."

"Exactly, it's ironic."

"No."

"Fruit themed."

"Firm no."

"Okay, so we gather the house elves, and-"

"No."

"You didn't even hear what I-"

"No."

"A clown themed party."

"No."

"That was a joke."

"Was it?"

"No. In other words, I have no idea what to do. I didn't ask for this burden, and yet I must carry it on my shoulders anyway."

"Why don't we just have food, firewhiskey and friends?" Lottie suggested after the time it took her to process my terrible ideas. "The three big Fs, well, three of the four."

"Merlin's twisted elbows Lottie, I think you're onto something!"

"Anything is better than a clown party, Eva. Especially if you're an adult."

"You make a reasonable argument. I hate clowns."

"Could you imagine if we actually threw Lily a clown themed party?" Lottie giggled. "I think she'd disown us. That or she'd have the boys excommunicate us from the group."

"Mmm, yeah. I don't really want to be excommunicated. I like you all far too much."

"Evelyn!" Lottie gasped, "You don't!"

"I know it must come as an awful surprise to you, but yes... I do," I dramatically flopped onto Lottie's bed. "Even Peter, who I'm still mad at for leaving you at the ball."

Lottie grimaced but decided to move on. "Even Sirius?"

"Even Sirius."

Lottie made a sound akin to someone choking.

"I don't know how to respond to that."

"Respond to what?" I said. "Black and I are friends. We hang out at times."

"No, not that," Lottie said. "You just called him Sirius."

"No, I didn't."

She grabbed me by the shoulders, "Uh, yes, you did." She shook me gently. "What's gotten into you lately?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Charlotte."

"You are the most hopeless person I have ever met, Evelyn."

"Take that back!"

"Not today, not ever!" was her only reply.

We dissolved into giggles, and lay laughing on her bed for what felt like forever. It was nice to finally spend some time just being girls, you know? It's all felt a bit like we've had to really be adults lately, and I don't really know if that's what I want.

I guess I don't really have a choice.

I guess none of us have a choice.

Thank goodness for birthday parties to numb the pain, right?

Ooh, that sentence sounds like it needs some unpacking but I'm not really in the mood to discuss my feelings right now.

On that note, I'm going to bed.

 **Monday**

 **January 26, 1978**

 **Transfiguration**

Good golly, it's been a jolly long while since I've written anything in this class.

Would you believe I've forgotten to write in my diary over the past few days? If you did, you're wrong. Lily has decided that apparently I spend too much time 'wasting my life' by writing in my diary, and confiscated it.

She only gave it back to me at lunchtime after I promised her I'd spend less time writing in it.

We all know that's a lie.

Only joking, ha ha.

(I'm not joking. She's sitting next to me and I'm nervous she's going to notice that I'm writing in my diary instead of writing down what McGonagall is saying.)

The thing is, I have to write down this one thing that just happened, because it was totally crazy.

I say 'just happened' but honestly it was Thursday, which makes it, gosh, five days ago? Time flies, eh?

Anyway, I was just minding my own bloody business when Aislin Murphy fully just came at me with her wand in the corridor for no reason and with zero explanation!

I have been spending my time avoiding confrontation. I have been doing my part in keeping an eye on the Slytherins, and despite Avery's barbed comments and Snivellus' greasy hair I have kept to myself.

Unfortunately, Aislin Murphy, the irrational paperclip, thought it would be appropriate to try and hex me in the corridor. I was walking with Black from our Potions class when she just came around the corner and shouted some sort of spell gibberish at me. Luckily for me, Aislin is honestly rubbish at anything that isn't Divination (I think that statement speaks for itself) so the spell missed and hit a nearby suit of armour, causing the helmet to go clanging to the ground.

Before Black or I could do anything, Isadora James, for once the voice of reason, apologised profusely, grabbing Aislin's wand off her, and then dragged her down the corridor.

I just kind of stood there gawping for a second whilst Black threatened bloody murder. In the end I decided to leave it, because she's obviously got some issues to work through. Black seemed quite upset though, which honestly was quite nice. It's comforting when your friends look out for you.

Anyway, that's the whole short story, but it was kinda random, to say the least. I spend my life doing absolutely nothing to Aislin, and then suddenly she tries to attack me out of nowhere?

Definitely the weirdest thing that's happened this month, and this has been a _weird_ month.

That's all. I should probably get back to taking notes before Lily decides Aislin was onto something and hexes me herself, and Lily never misses.

 **Saturday**

 **January 31, 1978**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dormitory**

I've been trying to do my best by Lily and not spend my whole life incessantly writing and living in the moment, and I must admit, I've been doing a rather good job of it.

However, this pales in comparison to any of the events that have occurred last night at Lily's birthday party.

As Lottie, the Keeper of my Secret put it at about eleven yesterday, 'Merlin ain't got nothing on tonight.'

I think I may have difficulty writing this, as I'm honestly having difficulty coming to terms with it, but I'll give it my best shot. Also, I've got a raging headache, because I definitely drank too much last night.

So.

Lily's birthday.

We just had it in the Gryffindor Common Room, and like, everyone was there. Lily's kind of beloved around Hogwarts, you know, and so even though only like ten people knew about it there were a lot of people there.

I've definitely mentioned before, but I'm not really the party type. I spent most of the first part of the party sipping a butterbeer and firewhiskey mix and avoiding Remus because he wanted to dance and I preferred to keep all of my toes, thank you very much.

I ended up chatting to Frank Longbottom at one point, which was weird, because he should not have been able to get into the Common Room, but somehow there seemed to be quite a few people from other houses there.

James and Black were getting fairly rowdy. I think everyone was using the party as an excuse to let go of the stress we were all under, so inhibitions were loose, to say the least. Black's a bit of an annoying drunk, but he's very suave and frustratingly flirty, so my face was red for quite a portion of the evening, and it wasn't just from the firewhiskey.

Now I know what you're thinking, but calm down. It gets worse.

Besides, I was a little drunk, how did you expect me to react? With physical violence? I mean, I did hit him when he suggested we should snog, but otherwise I tried my best to ignore it. Speaking of ignoring people, Remus gave up trying to cajole me into dancing with him, so I think he decided his efforts were better spent elsewhere as he spent the better part of the night not talking to me but giving me sad eyes every couple minutes or so.

It was a whole thing, I don't want to talk about it.

But unfortunately, I have to.

You want to know why?

I'm just going to take a brief interlude and discuss how I am currently feeling in this moment. The rest of the girls are downstairs, chatting around the fire. I myself am clearly not with them, because of illness.

I have dubbed this feeling as illness because it makes my stomach feel all funny and I get all hot and fevery and also when you're sick you think irrationally, so it's an illness. And it's not just because of the hangover.

What caused this illness?

I'd like to say Aislin Murphy, but that's not true.

I suppose you could argue it was Sirius Black, but honestly, it was my own self that created this illness inside of me.

So, understandably, I'm quite annoyed at myself.

I guess I should probably explain.

I guess around ten thirty, when people were in the heights of their inebriation, I was wandering around looking for Lottie, when I saw Aislin Murphy out of the corner of my eye. Naturally, I was wondering what on earth she was doing at Lily's party, so I ducked around a snogging couple and attempted to follow her.

Slightly before this happened, I had started feeling the illness. The illness started when I looked at Sirius Black.

Now, Black was standing on a table, holding hands with James, singing a rude song that I didn't know the name of. He looked at me and grinned, and my stomach dropped out beneath me.

He said to his audience, "Excuse me, ladies and gents," and jumped off the table before striding toward me.

"Evelyn," he said, placing a hand on my arm. "Don't you look wonderful tonight."

This was typical drunk-Black talk, so I didn't think much of it. However, I felt myself saying, "Not as wonderful as you look in that shirt."

His mouth did a funny thing where it dropped open and he stood there gaping like a fish, before asking, "How much have you had to drink?"

"Only," I squinted at my glass, "four. Six. Eight. Three."

It was at this point that I noticed Aislin. "Look," I said, before Black could get a response out. "Is that Aislin Murphy? I'm going to follow her."

He took a second before reacting to what I'd said, and quickly followed me as I wandered around the Common Room.

I saw her slip out past the portrait, so I kept following her, winking at the fat lady as I trailed my suspect. Aislin wasn't hiding, however, and stood outside in the hallway as if she were waiting for us to find her.

"Enjoying your evening, Eva?" she smiled. She spoke like honey but for some reason it felt sour.

"What are you doing here, Aislin? You weren't invited."

She smiled wider as the portrait door open and closed and Black joined our conversation.

"Are you both enjoying your drinks?"

I glanced at my mug. It was firewhiskey mixed with butterbeer, and slightly too strong. It made me feel quite fuzzy at the edges.

"Why do you care about our drinks?" asked Black, coming to stand next to me.

"Oh, no reason really. I was just wondering if my special ingredient had started working yet."

I peered into my mug. I couldn't see any special ingredient.

Wait, what?

"Sorry?" I asked. "Special ingredient?"

"Yeah," she said, twirling her hair between her fingers. "A tiny dash of love potion. I thought I'd spice it up for you."

I suddenly felt a little bit sicker. I looked at Black. He looked at me.

"You did what?" Black asked slowly, keeping steady eye contact with me.

"Now you can know what I feel like. Enjoy, lovebirds."

I didn't notice her walk away.

Suddenly, all of the illness made sense.

"How are you feeling, Eva?" Black asked carefully. "Besotted at all?"

I know it seems silly to mention, but he does have really nice eyes.

"A little bit," I replied.

Black suddenly seemed very sober. "Ahh, so your comment earlier, was, um..."

"Are you besotted with me?" I interrupted. My voice seemed quite loud in my ears. My lips felt numb so I started patting my face. Mm. Numb.

"I can blame this all on love potion, so I'm going to tell you yes."

"Oh my gooooodness," I said. "That's so crazy! That's what I was thinking about myself. Because, you know, that time that you were shirtless in the forest, and I was like, oh my goodness, and you looked like, I dunno, a Christmas surprise..." I stopped rambling to sway a little bit.

Black quickly grabbed my waist to steady me.

"Ooh, Black, tell me what you really think."

"Oh, believe me, I want to," he said.

His face was awfully close.

Is this what love potion feels like? I didn't mind. Black's face looked like a picnic on a summer day.

"I think-"

"I think you should stop talking," Black said.

"Okay." I looked at his face which was getting closer by the second. "Did you drink it too?" I whispered.

"I think so," he whispered back. "It's the only explanation."

He leaned in and-

"What in _Merlin's name_ is going on here," said Lottie, closing the portrait door.

I took a step back from Black.

"Love potion," I said, winking at her. "You should have some."

"What?" she said, looking alarmed.

"It was a present from Aislin, a secret special ingredient in my drink."

"And mine," said Black. "It was in mine too."

Lottie narrowed her eyes at him as she grabbed my arm. "I'm putting you to bed, Eva. How much have you had to drink?"

"Nothing," I said. "I had an orange, and that's all. Ha ha. I tricked you. I had more."

"Wonderful," was her only response. "Bed, let's go."

I let her take me up to our dormitory, blowing a kiss to a bewildered Black as I left him in the hallway.

Lottie walked me up to our room as best as she could and sat me down on my bed. Everything felt a little funny.

"Now, Eva, can you tell me what happened?"

"I was talking to Black, and I saw Aislin and was like, 'what's she doing here?' and so I followed her outside, and then Black followed me, and then she said she put love potion in my drink. I think it's illegal. But it's nice, I'm all fuzzy."

"Eva..." Lottie paused after saying my name. She looked quite concerned, which was understandable under the circumstances. "I'm going to tell you something because I think it's important that you know. You're a bit drunk right now, so I'm going to attribute everything you've done so far up to that, but sober you is going to want to know about this."

"I dunno what you're talking about."

"I saw Aislin put the potion in your drink. I saw her as she walked in, and I kept my eye on her, so I definitely saw it when it happened."

"And you let her? Damnnnn, Chaaaaaarlotty, that's not nice."

"Remember when I gave you a drink?"

"That was so nice!"

"I grabbed the drink she put it in before you drank it and gave you a new one."

"That's even nicer! Oh my goooodnesssss! You're like my bestest friend."

"Yeah. Um, so. You didn't have any love potion."

"But that makes no sense, you're talking like a silly person. Otherwise what was I doing with that handsome man downstairs."

"Good Merlin," was all Lottie said in response to that. "I'm just going to let you sleep on this, and we can talk in the morning. Have you still got any calming draught?"

"In my suitcase."

Lottie rummaged around until she found it. "Open wide."

I don't remember what happened after that.

I woke up this morning with a raging headache, and about ten minutes ago I remembered in far too much detail the events of last night.

This has forced me to confront my illness.

My disease.

This disease has been known to many before. I am not the first to feel this, nor will I be the last. Unfortunately for me, I didn't want to get sick, but here we are.

What is this illness, you ask?

I think I might have some repressed feelings for the bane of my existence, Sirius Black.

Today marks the day that my life reaches a whole new low.

 _ **AN: As the kids say, that was a 'big yikes.'**_

 _ **No further comments.**_

 _ **Thank you all for being amazing. I love you almost as much as Eva loves living in denial.**_

 _ **OXO**_


	30. A Roller-Coaster of Emotions

**Saturday**

 **February 7, 1978**

 **Prefects Bathroom**

Now, on a normal day, I suppose that one may wonder what on earth I'm doing writing in my diary in the Prefects Bathroom. I supposed this question has a reasonably simple answer: efficiency.

The medium answer is to get clean whilst making sure I successfully retain all relevant information about my current emotional turmoil.

The long answer is this: I was just at the Ravenclaw/Slytherin quidditch match (Ravenclaw won, but that is a whole other tangent), where I broke up with Remus, the love of my life, and fell in the mud.

Actually, now that I think about it, that's also a medium answer. Like a long-medium answer? I should probably give the long-long answer.

I woke up this morning, eager and ready for the quidditch match. I haven't really talked much about quidditch lately, but that doesn't mean it's any less important in my life. In fact, I have been in regular discourse with James Potter about how our quidditch success is going, and what needs to be done in order to maximise it. We were hoping for a Ravenclaw loss, because their team is probably our biggest competitor this year, what with their keeper Hollie Hindeburg, and Richard Smothers the fourth-year chaser. The one good thing is that Hollard Buggery is also still a chaser, and he's average at best.

Unfortunately for us, Ravenclaw beat Slytherin, which means we'll need to beat them in the final match if we want to win the cup this year. I don't doubt we can do it, of course. Have you met our team? We're bloody brilliant!

As I was saying, we were hoping for a Ravenclaw loss, so we came, all decked out in our Gryffindor paraphernalia, hoping it might throw them off their game. Unfortunately, as this was a normal occurrence, it wasn't a particularly effective strategy. Besides, we didn't exactly want to yell 'Go Slytherin!' so it was mostly just a lot of booing and hand gestures.

I was sitting between Remus and Lily in the bleachers, partly because I wanted to sit next to them, but mostly because I was avoiding Black and Lottie.

Why was I avoiding Lottie? Well, obviously it's because she was the only person who knew my little secret.

Why was I avoiding Black? I feel like I shouldn't have to explain this one, but I'm going to do it anyway. It has been a whole entire week since the party, which has led me toward performing a number of actions. You know what? It's going to be easier to make this into a list.

 _ **A Complete List of All of the Things One Evelyn K. O. Bishop Has Done in Response to the Events of the Party of January 31st, 1978.**_

 **1.** Completely avoid Black. I was avoiding Black for a number of reasons. Can I do sublists? Is that allowed?

A Complete Sublist of all of the Reasons One Evelyn K. O. Bishop Has Been Avoiding One Sirius O. Black

a) I have found that life is much easier when you don't need to talk to people about the fact that one had taken love potion or one had thought one had taken love potion and one never has to explain their somewhat misguided actions from taking said love potion. The main point of this tangent is that we both said things whilst under the influence (I'm claiming alcohol as an influence) and I'd rather not have to address any of these things with him, ever.

b) He consumed the love potion and I did not. Preferably, he would never find out about this. I, however, have somewhat limited control over my own mouth and would probably find some mortifying way to blurt this out to him, therefore dooming myself to an eternity of mockery.

c) This is probably the least important, but, well, the um, *shudder,* 'feelings.' I honestly don't know how it happened. Lottie reckons it's because I've been spending a lot of time with him lately and I'm learning new things about him and because he's grown up a bit I'm seeing him in a different light, especially now that this whole Remus thing isn't really what I thought it would be. She also thinks I've been repressing them for a while. I think that's crazy. I'm still not entirely sure they're there, because I was reasonably drunk PLUS I thought I had ingested love potion so all of my actions were influenced by those two things.

 **2.** Had to try and prevent Lottie from 'obliviating' Black's memory. Although I appreciate the offer, I thought it might be a bit rude to secretly remove some of your friend's memory to save myself some embarrassment. Also, I didn't know if she's actually any good, but she tells me it's a skill passed down in her family and they all have exceptional affinity for memory spells. She also had the audacity to tell me she's been talking to Isadora James about this, because Isadora is apparently interested in memory spells as well. So, I have mixed feelings about Lottie at the moment.

 **3.** Avoid Remus? Well, not avoid him as such, but, like, not spend time with him? But also at the same time spend a lot of time with him so I'm not thinking about Black. It's a weird time. Anyway, I talked to Lottie and she said that I need to break up with him. She said that she doesn't think we were a good pair to begin with, which was clear from the start of our relationship, which I think is ridiculous. I have no idea what she's talking about. Except that I sort of do... The thing is, is that I wanted to be with Remus, or I guess the idea of what I thought it would be, for so long, that I didn't want to believe it wasn't perfect, you know?

Like, Remus is this wonderful, wonderful person, and I really wanted him to be _my_ person. I guess it just wasn't meant to be, you know? Not, of course, that this has anything to do with Black. I'll handle that whole issue later. This is my own realisation that it just isn't working like I wanted to. Yes, Lottie may have helped me come to this decision, but I think we all know that I may have needed the nudge.

Anyway, list aside, I decided that I needed to break up with Remus for both of our sake. I feel like maybe he could sense this or something because he's also being weird, what with either spending too much or not enough time with me. It's a whole thing.

Anyway, I don't want to dwell too much on this, mostly because I'm nervous of what the steam from this bath will do to the paper in this diary. Also I'm worried I might accidentally drop this in the bath, so I'm going to speed things up a bit.

So, I was sitting between Remus and Lily in the bleachers, enjoying the quidditch game, furiously avoiding eye contact with pretty much everyone.

Much to my disappointment, Brooke Obery for Ravenclaw caught the snitch, which meant Ravenclaw won by a landslide. Just another day that I'm glad I'm not in Slytherin (mostly because of their damp Common Room).

After a somewhat gloomy set of cheers from the crowd, we all gathered our belongings and started making our way down to the grounds. I started walking down the stairs, but realising I left my wand under my seat I quickly made my way back up to the stands. Remus, bless his soul, decided to wait for me as the others all headed towards the warmth of the school building.

I hadn't exactly planned to break up with Remus, but I knew I had to do it sometime. I mean, I didn't actually have to do it, but I knew it would be the right thing to do. Now, let me clarify, I wanted to break up with Remus because I knew that I didn't have the right sort of feelings for him.

This had and has nothing to do with Sirius Black. Just because what happened at Lily's party happened, it does not mean that I want to see Black in a romantic way. Nope. Definitely not. I'm currently at war within myself, and I'm really hoping that my common sense wins out. Actually, no. I _know_ it will. I have no interest in Sirius Black other than as a friend. That's that.

Back to the story. So, Remus, ever the gentleman, waited for me as I retrieved my wand. On a side note, I really need to keep a better track of my wand. It's kind of an essential part of my life.

After that, we went back down the stairs and started walking across the grounds toward the school. Remus put his arm around me, not saying anything, and for some reason I felt compelled to stop walking.

"Uh, are we stopping for a reason?" Remus asked, pulling his arm back to wrap his coat tighter around his body. "It's a bit chilly out here."

"I'm not sure," I said, pausing to think for a second.

"You're not sure...?" Remus asked, glancing longingly at the Hogwarts entrance.

"No. I'm not sure anymore."

Remus laughed nervously, "About going to where it's warm?"

"No, not that."

"Okay then, about what?"

I didn't really know what to say, so I just looked at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "That's not an answer, Eva."

I chose to keep avoiding bringing it up myself by making prolonged eye contact with him.

"You can't just say, 'I'm not sure anymore,' and then not give me any answers as to what you're talking about, and then just expect me to know exactly what you mean. I can't just deduce an answer from such little-" Remus narrowed his eyes at me. "Wait, are you trying to break up with me?"

"What? No."

"Then what-"

"Sorry," I interrupted. "I mean yes, I am."

"You're what?"

"Trying to break up with you."

"Finally, an answer!" Remus moved toward the school and took a few steps, before turning back around so fast it almost gave me whiplash. "You want to break up?"

Remus normally wears his heart on his sleeve, but for some reason his face remained frustratingly blank.

"Uh, I think so?"

"You think so?"

"Well, can you really break up with someone if you're not technically together in the first place?"

"Um, we _are_ together."

"I mean, you never actually specified. It's been kind of but not really but sort of?"

"Oh," Remus said. He scrunched up his nose and I watched as the wind whistled past us, blowing snow right onto the very tip of it.

"Yeah..." was the only eloquent thing I could think of to say.

"I guess... I guess we're broken up then."

"Yeah..." I said again, contributing equally to the conversation.

"Alright," said Remus, "I guess I'll see you inside then. It's cold out here."

With that as his final statement, Remus turned around and walked hurriedly toward the castle.

Me, in my state of confusion, didn't watch where I was going and took a wrong step, slipping on the mud onto the ground.

This brings me to now, the Prefects Bathroom; warm and now washed. Speaking of the Prefects Bathroom - there was one thing I was always nervous about when it comes to this bathroom - what happens if I come in here, strip down to my birthday suit, and then someone else decides they want a bath as well? I don't particularly want to meet Octavius Nubbs in the Prefects Bathroom in a barer state than usual, you know? Anyway, it turns out that this is Hogwarts, so the room just kind of knows if you're having a bath and doesn't let anyone else in.

Could you imagine if Remus walked in right now in my current state of undress? Even worse, what if Black walked in! Actually, Black isn't a prefect, so he wouldn't be able to get in here. But, knowing Black, he could probably get in anywhere that he wanted to. Does that mean he could get in here now? Agh! Stop, Eva. No need to spiral unnecessarily.

Okay, I'm going to close my diary and dry up now before my mind starts to go places that it very much shouldn't.

 **Sunday**

 **February 8, 1978**

 **Great Hall**

I woke up early again this morning, and for some reason beyond my knowledge I decided to go to the Great Hall for an early breakfast, much like I did at the beginning of the school year. However, I had forgotten the details of who also liked to join my early morning breakfasts - my ex-romantic-partner's-judgy-ex-girlfriend-who-was-slash-is-sort-of-still-my-friend and my enemy-turned-friend-turned-forbidden-thoughts-post-love-potion-incident-male-friend.

'Why didn't you just leave the Great Hall when you saw them and avoid the confrontation altogether?' I hear you ask.

The thing is - I TRIED that! Unfortunately, we've all met me, and so what did I do? I saw them sitting at the Gryffindor table, tried to back out of the Great Hall, and promptly tripped over my own feet, drawing the attention of all eight people eating breakfast in peace. Black waved at me jauntily, so what was I going to do? Ignore him? No! I clearly had no choice but to go sit with them.

So, I went and sat down with them, which is where I currently am. I'm also using writing in my diary as an excuse to not have to interact but I don't know how long this will be a sustainable option for me. Touch wood?

"Evelyn," Black says.

Dammit.

I look up hesitantly from my diary. Black is sitting across from me, looking much the same as ever: purposely tousled.

"It's going to really frustrate me if you don't let me straighten your collar," Black says, much to my surprise.

"What?"

"Your collar, it's wonky over there on the-" he reaches over the table and grabs my collar, his fingers brushing against my collarbone. They travel around the back of my neck and down my collar, pulling it from either side. I'm keenly aware of how close he is to me right now. "There," he says, "all fixed."

I mumble a thank you and turn back to my diary. I don't want to let him know that my arms are currently all goosebumps and my heart is beating slightly faster than usual. Is that normal?

"You do know that in most societies it's considered slightly rude to blatantly ignore the people you're having breakfast with?" he continues.

"I'm not ignoring you," I respond hurriedly. Dorcas and Black exchange a pointed glance. "I'm not!" I attempt to assure them. "I have no reason to ignore either of you, so why would I be doing that? I'm just writing in my diary, you know, the usual."

"So this has nothing to do with what happened at Lily's party?" Black asks.

Dorcas immediately asks, "What happened at Lily's party?"

"Nothing," Black and I say in unison.

Dorcas starts to grin. "What happened at Lily's party, guys?"

"Nothing," I say again.

Black just winks at me.

"Aren't you dating Remus though, Eva? I mean that's why you've been avoiding me, right?" Dorcas asks, obviously understanding the need for a new topic of conversation.

"I'm not avoiding you," I say. "And yes, for a bit over a month."

"Oh sure you're not," Dorcas says. "Don't worry, there's no hard feelings from my side. And our old mate Sirius here already had it out with me for what happened so there's no need to have any hard feelings on your side either. So we can get back to our normally scheduled breakfast conversations, then? We've only got until June after all."

I can't ignore Dorcas when she backs me into a corner. "No hard feelings, we're good."

Little does she know, _some_ hard feelings.

"I can't believe we're graduating in June," Black says. "With everything that's been going on lately it feels like such a foreign concept."

"What are you going to do when you graduate?" Dorcas asks. "Wreak havoc on a larger scale?"

"That, as well as hopefully exploring the world on my motorbike, and let's not forget that I'll be becoming the best damn uncle you ever did see. Remus Lupin eat your heart out."

"Who's having children? James and Lily?"

"Well, not yet, but the way they're going I wouldn't be surprised if we had a June wedding on our hands."

I think he makes a valid point.

"What about you, Eva? Joining the ministry? Remus at your side?"

"Why would Remus be at my side," I ask. "We broke up yesterday, remember? I mean he's my friend but-"

"What?" Black exclaims, dropping his cup of tea and spilling it all over his lap, eliciting an ungodly shriek from the very depths of his lungs.

Everyone in the Great Hall takes a moment to recover from the battering our ears just went through.

 _"Arificus,"_ I whisper, quickly drying the hot tea from his lap. I finish with, _"Lenisaneat,"_ attempting to heal the burns I'm sure would have been immediately forming. As soon as the last words of the healing spell leave my mouth, Black heaves a sigh of relief.

"Good Merlin," he says, gently patting his now dry and hopefully healed lap. "That could have been bad. Where'd you learn that spell, Eva? I don't remember seeing it in any of our textbooks."

"Yeah," says Dorcas, peering curiously at Black's lap area. "Been doing some extra reading, have you?"

"Oh, no, it's just a new idea for a healing spell I had that I've been experimenting with," I say.

You know me, a charms lover. I came across a spell that soothes burns, _lenire ardeat,_ but I found that it only soothed it for a short period, rather than healing the injury. I've been trying to improve it. I hope Black doesn't mind that I've never actually used it on anyone before.

"You mean you made this spell?" queries Dorcas.

"Well, I improved an old one. I'm glad it worked."

"You mean you could have potentially damaged that particular area of my body permanently?" Black shrieks again.

"I wouldn't have done it if I thought it was unsafe, Black. Don't you trust me?"

"I thought I did," he narrows his eyes at me. "Using unknown spells near my manhood. What has this world come to?"

"I hate to interrupt your musings about your manhood," says Dorcas, "but can I revert the conversation back to something you said earlier, Eva? You and Remus broke up yesterday?"

Black immediately stops his grumbling. "Yeah, you just slipped that one in without warning."

"I mentioned it earlier," I say.

"No you didn't. I would have remembered," says Black. "I would have definitely remembered."

"Oh, sorry," is my only response. "I thought I said."

"Again, this doesn't have anything to do with Lily's party, does it?"

Black seems particularly bent on this notion. I'm not going to be the one to tell him whether it does or not, because as I have mentioned in a previous diary entry, I really don't want to open that can of worms.

"Okay, can someone tell me what happened at Lily's party?" Dorcas says, narrowing her eyes at us. "What did you two do?"

"Nothing!" we both say again.

I decide it's time to leave this conversation. "Oh look at the time, folks, I'm afraid I have to go, so sorry."

"You're not wearing a watch," says Dorcas.

"Goodbye," I say, standing up hurriedly, pointedly ignoring Dorcas' observation of my watch-wearing tendencies.

I make the mistake of looking over my shoulder as I leave through the doors, seeing nothing but Black staring at me with an odd sort of glint in his eye. I stare at him until I feel like I'm coming down with a fever, before rushing up to my dormitory as fast as my legs can take me.

 **Sunday**

 **February 8, 1978**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

Sundays are never particularly eventful, but earlier this afternoon we all found sherbet lemons in our pockets, so Dumbledore probably planned the school calendar that way. Is it legal for headmasters to plan the school curriculum around their own desires to form a most likely illegal student insurgent group? Wait, never mind. I forgot that Sunday is part of the weekend.

Anyway, we've just come back from the meeting. It wasn't particularly eventful in itself. Dumbledore mostly just updated us on what I like to call the 'current political climate.' He also let us know that it would be "most likely inappropriate" to do any real physical resistance work against Voldemort, seeing as most of us are studying for out NEWTs and all, but that he wants to start training us with higher level defensive spells in case anything should happen. He also wants us to just keep an eye out for anything that seems suspicious. Apparently, there's an already established resistance group made up of 'proper adults,' which we're to meet with later in the year as well.

In other words - Dumbledore fed us a _lot_ of information, and now my brain hurts. This is why I have chosen not to write about it in-depth and instead just chill out with my friends, engaging in social activities.

I know, crazy right? Me? Social activities?

That's a lie. I do love hanging out with my friends and probably should be doing it more than I currently am. Huzzah! I was just feeling guilty for not doing homework but have just realised that socialising with friends is an important part of a young woman's developmental stage, so now I'm chilling out guilt-free. What a life.

Speaking of chilling out, it's just us five Gryffindor girls chilling in Lily's bed. We like to do this thing sometimes where we all bring a snack and just sit and talk about whatever. It's nice.

Marley's currently telling us about this new girl she's met. She said her name is Anastasia Adane and she's in sixth year (makes sense as to why I have no idea who she's talking about) but she's also apparently a Slytherin so the other girls are keen on sussing out what her deal is. Not that I have anything against Slytherins, but some of them did try to kill me and my friends recently, so I'd rather err on the side of caution, you know?

Oh, rats, they're talking to me.

"Eva, don't you ever just want to participate rather than observe for once?" Lily asks. "Surely writing things down isn't as fun as it looks. Besides, we want to hear about you and Remus."

"Yeah, Dorcas and I were talking today and she said that you said you guys broke up, which is ridiculous," Marley adds. "You would have told us if you'd broken up."

I struggle to meet the eyes of my friends as I mumble, "We might have."

"You what?" asks Lily, her eyes narrowing.

"We might have."

"Evelyn Bishop," Lily responds. She pauses after saying my name in a way that makes me squirm a bit. "Do you mean to tell me that you and Remus broke up and you didn't even tell me?

"Yes?"

Lily gives me a long, hard look before slipping off of her bed, pulling her robe around her and exiting the room.

"Ooh, damage control," says Alice, following Lily's quickly retreating figure.

Lottie and Marley stare at me without saying anything.

"What?"

"Eva..." Lottie begins, attempting to convey some sort of message through the slow pronunciation of my name.

"Are you alright, Eve?" Marley interjects. "Genuinely, are you alright?"

"I think so?" I say. I don't really know how to answer the question.

"It's just... Let's see the facts here. You've been obsessed with Remus for like, so long, and then you finally start to realise he doesn't feel the same way about you. In a shocking turn of events, he does, then you guys start dating, and now are broken up, and through this whole thing you haven't really talked about it at all. That's a lot."

"Ijustdon'treallyliketalkingaboutmyfeelings," is my vague and mumbled response.

"Well, we know that, but as your friends you're supposed to tell us these things. That's what friendship is. Imagine how Lily feels knowing that you guys are supposed to be best friends and you didn't even tell her you and your boyfriend broke up because you didn't feel like it."

The bed descends into silence.

"She just cares about you, Eve," says Lottie, after a while. "We all do. You can tell us things. Nothing you tell us will make us love you any less."

I didn't really know what to say after that, so I say nothing.

"Just tell us when things happen, you know?" Marley encourages. "We want to be sad with you, we want to be happy with you. I'm sorry Remus broke up with you."

Lottie raises an eyebrow at me.

"Actually, I broke up with him," seemed to be the only appropriate response.

Taken aback, Marley's mouth began gaping like a fish.

Lottie's next sentence was full of so many awkward pauses that I really wish she had chosen to respond internally. "I'm so shocked and surprised, Eva. I never would have known you had it in you. This has flabbergasted me."

Marley looks quickly between us. "Why did you say it like that?"

"Like what?" says Lottie, her face reddening.

"Like you know something."

"I know nothing!"

"Nothing," I quickly echo.

"Guys, we literally just talked about sharing things and being open in our friendships, and yet you two are choosing not to disclose pivotal information?"

Lottie winces as I glare at her. She mouths the word sorry to me. I threaten to kill her with my eyes. You know, the usual friendship stuff.

Not because of personal growth or anything, really only because I feel like I have no other choice, I decide to give Marley a brief recount of events. This starts with the sentence, "At Lily's party," and ends with the sentence (and a pointed look at Lottie), "and so we _both_ accidentally ingested love potion but nothing properly bad happened."

Lottie makes the terrible mistake of opening her mouth. "But-"

" _But,_ this has little relevance to the fact that I just felt like Remus and I were heading down different paths, which is the more important reason as to why I broke up with him."

During this short story-telling episode, Marley had leapt off the bed and starting jumping up and down.

"Are you quite alright, Marley?" I ask.

"Wonderful, just processing." She continues to jump. "You're telling me that Aislin Murphy drugged you against your will which led to you and Sirius essentially falling in love."

I grimace, "I mean you're not technically incorrect."

"Ahh! This is wonderful!"

"Should we do anything about Aislin drugging you, by the way?" says Lottie.

"Not important, Charlotte," is Marley's response.

"I don't really understand what you're so excited about, Marley." I say, interrupting her jumping.

"Right! Oh. Good point."

"So... what is it?"

"Sorry? What was that? I think I just heard someone calling my name!" Marley looks around the room before rushing out the door.

Lottie and I stare at the place where she had been two seconds before.

"Well... I don't really know what this conversation turned into," says Lottie, "but I'm glad you broke up with Remus. You guys just weren't gelling like you should be."

"Of course."

"I'm gonna go to bed now. Goodnight, Eve."

"Goodnight Lottie."

We both return to our own beds.

I'm going to try and go to sleep now, but I just can't switch my brain off. I'm thinking about so many things. I'm thinking about... Wait.

 _ **A Complete List of Things One Evelyn K. O. Bishop is Thinking About Instead of Sleeping.**_

 **1.** Lily Evans. I feel bad that I didn't tell her that I broke up with Remus. I know I should have. I just get so caught up in my head sometimes that I don't think to talk to other people about things.

 **2.** Marlene McKinnon. I don't know what she was going on about, but unfortunately her response reminded me of my third point:

 **3.** Sirius Black. Now, I've been doing my best _not_ to think of him, but he keeps slipping into my mind anyway. I feel like I can't help thinking about him all the time and it's really frustrating. Like the way that he pushes his hair back with his hand all the time, but a strand or two inevitably ends up falling back in his face? Ridiculous. Or how he's actually a lot smarter than he seems? Ridiculous again. Or how if the light catches his eyes just right they look speckled with silver? Still ridiculous! Or how I wonder what he's doing right now? Is he asleep? Is he talking with Remus? Oh, Merlin, now I'm thinking about Remus.

 **4.** Remus Lupin. I have not seen nor talked to him since our breakup. I assume it will be incredibly awkward and I'm not about that life so I am avoiding him on purpose. That's all relatively simple. Huzzah!

That's all. I think I feel a bit more clear-headed after writing all of that down. Merlin, these last few diary entries are all introspection. Gross. No one wants to hear all of my thoughts all of the time. Or do they? I guess lucky for me, no one is reading my diary, nor will anyone ever read me diary. If someone did, I would have to kill them.

That's all.

 _ **AN: Hiya folks! New chapter! What a slog!**_

 _ **Hello to all of my new readers and to all of my old readers and to the ones who are in between! Thank you all for your continued support of my writing despite the slow updates and I promise that this story will be worth sticking out!**_

 _ **Let me know your favourite parts of this chapter in the comments, and thank you so much for your votes, reads and comments! I LOVE YOU**_

 _ **OXO**_


	31. The Curious Case of Sirius Black

**Thursday**

 **February 12, 1978**

 **Potions**

The really annoying thing about Potions is that my desk mate is Sirius Black.

This is not new information, but it is still no less annoying than it was that first fateful day that Slughorn decided to put us together. It was annoying then, but even more annoying now due to my newfound realisation that I may... *shudder* ...'fancy'... *shudder* ...him.

Now I don't just write that lightly, mind you.

For those of us who have been on this journey for what, seven years now, this is a frightening development to say the least.

I haven't actually really sorted through the muddle of emotions, and I have come to the realisation in the two or so weeks since Lily's party that I may have been repressing these emotions for obvious reasons: I do not want to have any romantic feelings of any sort for Sirius Black.

Yes, he makes me laugh. Yes, he has this sensitivity that I find weirdly attractive. Yes, he has an infectious personality and yes, I grudgingly admit that he _might_ be good-looking.

All of this aside, here are the negatives.

Ahh, who am I kidding. Here comes a list.

 _ **An Incomplete List of Why Having Any Form of Romantic Feelings Toward One Sirius O. Black is a Terrible Idea and Can Lead to Nothing but Heartbreak for One Evelyn K. O. Bishop**_

 **1.** He's very annoying. I do not know if I have the mental capacity to put up with his annoyingness for any extended period of time.

 **2.** He's friends with James Potter, and that's a questionable allegiance at best. Wait, dammit, I'm friends with James Potter. Never mind, scratch that.

 **3.** He is the biggest flirt of all time. Hogwarts has never encountered nor will encounter again a man of such vile need to caress the face of every woman to walk through the Hogwarts halls. He has had _personal_ relations with many a woman, as I have not had with a man, and I'm not judging or anything, it's just... a lot.

 **4.** Family ties to possible death eaters?

 **5.** I recently broke up with his best friend.

 **6.** Oh, did I forget to mention? This whole thing would hinge on the bizarre concept of him having similar feelings toward me, which I can say with complete confidence that he does not.

Therefore, point six rules everything invalid. This makes me even more annoyed because after all of the emotional and mental trauma I have gone through over the last few days to even come to this conclusion at all, I have gained nothing except a whole SWARM of flying insects in my stomach any time I so much as take a glance to my right this very morning.

And speaking of the person on my right... He's currently bent over the desk, furiously scribbling notes down about our potion as it simmers in between us. There's a light haze of smoke in the air, being the Potions classroom and all, which makes him look even more dark and mysterious than usual.

I hate it.

Merlin, he just caught me staring at him.

"Are you staring at me, Evelyn?" he asks.

"I am most certainly not staring at you, nor would there be a reason for me to stare at you."

Nice save, Eva.

"I can say with utmost confidence that you were definitely staring at me," he replies. "Mostly because James just wrote on our enchanted parchment that you've been staring at me for well over thirty seconds."

"Rats."

"Indeed."

His mouth quirks up a little bit and I can't help but notice the way that his lips curve, like a-

"Are you still staring at me, but just incredibly blatantly this time?" Black tilts his head to one side. I say nothing. "Go on," he says. "I want to hear this."

"I... don't know."

"You don't know why you were staring at me, or you don't want me to know why you were staring at me. Have I got something on my face?"

"No, no. Your face is... (lovely) fine."

"Then-"

"Then nothing. Did you just mention that you've been talking to Potter instead of writing down the notes about the changing colour and consistency of our potion like you said you were going to?"

"Are you changing the subject?" He raises an eyebrow. "What are you writing about?" he asks, leaning

 **Friday**

 **February 13, 1978**

 **Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory**

My last diary entry stated that I am annoyed. This is still true, mostly because I had to close my diary mid-sentence to stop Black from reading all of my thoughts and opinions about him. I don't think I need to go into any detail about what an utter travesty that would be.

Second, I somehow _misplaced_ my diary this afternoon. Yes, that is correct. I lost my bloody diary somewhere between Herbology and Divination, and only found it after an extremely panicked sprint between the Divination classroom and the Greenhouses (which is not a short area to cover, mind you), tucked behind a pot plant in Greenhouse Three. It must have slipped behind it when I put my books down, and boy am I glad that it did slip behind a pot plant, because if anyone were to so much as read even one diary entry, I would have to kill them.

Have to.

Aside from that, the only other thing of note today was an awful encounter I had with Remus. He's been blatantly ignoring me since our breakup, which is fair enough in my opinion, but we quite unfortunately had to work together on an assignment for Muggle Studies. This encounter went something along the lines of:

"Hi, Remus," I said as Bunt passed around various muggle artefacts.

"Eva," he said curtly.

I decided to give him some space for a few minutes, but seeing as we needed to actually talk about our artefact, I tried to give it another go.

"Um, so-"

"I guess I don't really feel like talking to you right now, Eva," Remus interrupted.

Well that's just rude. Can I just say, I feel like Remus has absolutely no reason to be treating me this way. I have done limited things wrong in my life, and dare I say it, absolutely nothing wrong in our short-lived relationship. Should he be this mad at me? I don't think so.

"Well that's cool and all, Remus, but we have an assignment to do."

"Then do it, I'm not stopping you."

"Merlin, what's got your knickers in a twist?"

"Um, I don't know, Eva. Did you maybe break up with me recently? How do you want me to act?"

"I don't know... I didn't think it was that big of a deal."

Remus snorted loudly beside me. "Not that big of a deal, she says."

"I'm _so_ rry," I said. "I didn't think you'd be affected like this. I thought we'd still be friends, you know? Like we were before."

"Right," is all he says, before waving his arm in the air to get Bunt's attention. "Excuse me, Sir, but I feel rather unwell. Is it alright if I go to the Hospital Wing?"

"If you must, Mr. Lupin," Bunt replied.

With that, Remus left to go to the Hospital Wing without sparing me a second glance, and I was left to try and work out what the bloody hell just happened.

I mean yes, I was upset when Amos Diggory broke up with me. Why? Because we had been dating for a rather long time, and he left without so much as contacting me again. Remus and I were barely dating, and I still want to be friends with him! I mean that's why I broke up with him - I missed what we had when we were friends, and it felt like our relationship was being a bit forced.

So now I'm mad at Remus because he's mad at me for no reason, and to top it all off, after this happened I went to go find Lily and let her know what happened (you know, trying to be a better friend and all), and she straight up said to me, "Eva, you're on friend probation. I don't want to hear about it."

I guess I deserved that.

Luckily for me, Lottie is the most diplomatic person I've ever met, so was able to listen to my complaints.

I haven't actually told her that I've sorted out all of my emotions toward Sirius Black though. The thing is, Lottie is the only person that knows about the events that occurred at Lily's party aside from (1) Sirius Black and (2) Marlene McKinnon (and anyone else she decided to tell), but Lottie is the only person who knows the true version of events that occurred that night. The good thing about this is that it means that I really only need to confess my sins to her, however, I've barely recovered from physically writing it down, let alone telling a whole entire person about it!

In conclusion: yes, I will tell her, but I need time. I know Lily loves to share everything and anything and that's good for her but not good for me.

That's all.

Oh, and I've decided that all feelings are cancelled from now on.

 **Friday**

 **February 13, 1978**

 **The Great Hall**

Call me superstitious, but I'm not a massive fan of Friday the 13th. From my experience, nothing good ever happens on Friday the 13th.

Take, for example, the events that occurred earlier today during Muggle Studies, and the conversation I had with one Lily Evans. One could also consider the encounter I just had with some _choice_ Slytherins in the corridor before this evening meal. For the sake of this scientific hypothesis, I feel compelled to mention the one good thing that has occurred, being the fact I've been able to make three diary entries in the last two days, which is pretty good, considering my recent rate of diary-ing.

Oh, yes, the Slytherins.

Late this afternoon, I decided to take a walk outside to clear my thoughts, have some me time, the usual. It was near the end of this walk that I realised what the time was, and headed back inside for tea.

I was walking through one of the countless corridors when I happened upon one Peter Pettigrew, one Ervyn Avery, and one Donnan Mulciber.

Peter seemed backed up against the wall, Mulciber looming over him and Avery with his usual sneer plastered across his face, twirling a wand in each hand.

"Practising for your baton twirling class, are you?" I asked.

Avery's head whipped round and he snarled in my direction. No, I am not exaggerating.

"Bishop. I assume that's some filthy muggle reference meant to demean me? A pity the only thing demeaning here is your muddy blood."

If Mulciber had been concentrating, the correct thing for him to say would have been, "Good one, Boss."

"What you guys doing?" was my follow up question. Peter looked nervously at the wand in Avery's left hand.

"Just having a chat with young Pettigrew over here."

"I'm pretty sure he's older than you, but sure."

"Shut up, Bishop."

"Shut up, Avery," I mimicked. "Is that yours, by the way?" I pointed at the wand that I was pretty sure belonged to Peter.

"It is now," was his well thought out response.

Silly boy. With a quick _expelliarmus_ Peter's wand flew out of his hand, landing deftly in mine in what can only be described as possibly one of the best Quidditch catches seen this century. Eat your heart out Thom Mickle, you've got a new seeker on the team.

"Watch yourself, Bishop, because we are."

"You and whose army?"

"You know whose army."

Luckily for someone, I'm not entirely sure who, Professor Rowle walked down the corridor at that exact moment on her way to the Great Hall.

"Come on Peter, let's go," I said.

Peter scurried next to me as I followed Rowle down the corridor, leaving Avery and Mulciber glaring after us.

I handed him his wand back. "Alright mate?"

"Alright," he said. "I was just walking when they... and I didn't know what was going to happen."

"Don't worry about it. You've got all of us, that's what friends are for, right? For protecting each other? I'll always be here to look out for you, and I can guarantee that they'll never get me."

"If you say so," was his only response.

I didn't think it was arrogant to say what I said, seeing as Avery's a complete dunce, and he's probably the smartest of the lot, bar Snape. I can't see why Peter's so worried. At this rate, we'll all live forever.

Anyway, I've written all of that down since walking late into the Great Hall with Peter. Lottie, bless her soul, saved me a seat. It's been a bit of a weird meal, to be honest.

Lily's still not talking to me, and neither, of course, is Remus. Black, however, has been jumping out of his seat all night. It's like someone told him he's going to meet Santa Claus or something. He keeps looking at me and grinning, which is frightening to say the least, especially as I'm trying _not_ to think about him, especially in light of all of this Remus stuff.

That is mostly why I've chosen to write this all down during the evening meal, something I do not normally do. If I write, it means I can ignore Black and it's not technically rude.

Oh, dammit, someone's just thrown a piece of paper at me.

I just unrolled it, and it says:

 _Dearest Evelyn,_

 _Would you do me the greatest honour of meeting with me at the Astronomy Tower tonight, 11 O'clock sharp?_

 _All my love,_

 _Sirius Black_

What a tosser. Of course I'm going to say no. I have to say no. If I spend any prolonged one-on-one time with him I'm going to do things or say things that I really don't want to do or say. Besides, I'm normally in bed at that time.

I scrawl underneath his writing:

 _Absolutely not._

And then I throw it back.

He opens it gleefully, and I'm disappointed to see that his face doesn't show any hint of sadness.

He writes something on it again and throws it my way. Unfortunately, this is further proof of why he is not on the Quidditch team, as it hits Lottie in the face. She decides to unroll it and read it, much to my horror.

"This is for you," she says after finishing reading it, but doesn't pass the paper to me. She looks at Black as if she's trying to discern the hidden motives of his soul. After what feels like forever, she hands the paper back to me, saying, "Read at your own peril, Eva."

I have no idea what she means, because the only amendment is:

 _Please. It's important._

As much as I really want to say yes, I decide it's more important to keep him on his toes. As a somewhat compromise, I write:

 _Tomorrow. 10 O'clock. No later._

When he reads my response he looks up at me solemnly and nods.

It's done. I guess I'm meeting Sirius Black tomorrow night in the Astronomy Tower.

You probably can't tell, but this idea makes me very nervous.

Oh, tripe. I've got to put my diary down or else I won't get anything to eat.

 **Saturday**

 **February 14, 1978**

 **The Library**

You know what makes me feel bad? When people don't understand the proper nuances of effective charm work. This is why I gladly accept the challenge of charms tutor. However, Mark Abery _really_ doesn't understand the proper nuances of charm work.

Sure, he's a lovely chap, but all he likes to do is talk about his feelings, and his life, which again, is nice enough, but doesn't really make for effective charm work.

"Have you seen her hair, Eva? It's so lovely. So lovely and red," he said, leaning with his face in his hands and a disgusting lovesick glint in his eye.

It's terrible, because so far most of our interactions in our charms tutoring session has been him all like: _can't you see how incredible Louise is?_

It's a bit of a conundrum, to be perfectly honest. The bigger, more pressing question here though, is why are all these boys disrupting my study? Why were they invented again? If Mark doesn't start taking this seriously, I'm not going to be happy. Charms is not a light topic.

Aside from all of that, I do quite like Mark Abery. He's always polite, and he's kind and helpful. You know who isn't always polite, kind, and helpful? Correct. Sirius Black.

I've been avoiding him particularly today, as every time I see him he grins at me so intensely that I think I might drop into a dead faint. Either that or accidentally hex him.

I don't know what to expect tonight. I would describe myself as nervous, yet excited.

I don't know what I'd be excited for, but I guess that the clandestine location and the lateness of the hour suggests something fanciful, so in my head I've built it all up as this dramatic revelation of his love for me. This is, of course, stupid. Also, if Sirius Black declared his love for me, I don't think I'd be ready for that. I mean, I've barely gotten my head around fancying him in the first place. Besides, I just broke up with Remus.

The thing is, why does he want to meet me? Maybe he wants to tell me off for breaking up with Remus, seeing as their friends and all. Maybe he's decided James and Lily's relationship is too wonderful and we need to plot to break it up (I dearly hope this isn't the case). Maybe he just wants to chat?

Good Merlin, this is a whole thing, isn't it? I've started sweating I'm so nervous about it.

Why do I keep writing about it then?

I shall now give my full attention to Mark Abery's studies, and give an update later this evening, post clandestine-meeting.

 **Saturday**

 **February 14, 1978**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dormitory**

I often give a large preamble to significant events in my life, but I think I shall just head straight into this one. There's a lot to write about, after all.

Earlier this evening I sat silently on my bed, mentally preparing myself for whatever the evening might hold.

I sat there for possibly two whole hours, ignoring the whispers of the girls as they prepared themselves for bed around me.

At one point Lottie came over and pat me on the shoulder, saying, "It'll all be fine, Eve. There's no need to be nervous. I'm sure you guys will have a wonderful time."

I nodded mutely, barely registering what she said.

"What's she doing?" Alice whispered behind me.

"She's meeting Sirius tonight in the Astronomy tower," Lottie replied.

"She's what?" Marley said, probably louder than she intended to.

"Shh," said Lottie. "She's nervous." In a lower voice, "So am I."

"Merlin, it's about bloody time," Marley said.

There was a pause. "I suppose so," was Lottie's only response.

I pretended I didn't hear them.

I didn't know what Lily was thinking, and I didn't dare turn around and face her.

At some point during my musings, Lottie came over to me and said, "Eva, it's almost ten o'clock."

She gave my shoulders a squeeze and I slowly stood up, as if preparing myself for some unknown doom.

You know when you're nervous, and you're overthinking something for honestly no reason at all, and so everything you do and see feels like an over-stimulation of the senses? Like every loud noise, every bright light, every jarring step - it all feels like a little too much, and your head starts to get all fuzzy?

It's dumb, I know, but that's how I felt walking toward the Astronomy tower.

It felt like it took me ages to get there. At least three years. I barely even registered the fact that I was supposed to be looking out for teachers and prefects as technically I was supposed to be in bed.

I arrived at the bottom of the tower, and slowly made my way to the top. The steps seemed steeper all of a sudden, the stone colder.

I could feel something ominous in the air. Perhaps it was simply my nerves, or perhaps it was a sense of foreboding, whispering the secrets of the night ahead.

Either way, it covered my body in a wave, and it clamped to my joints, each step heavier than the last, each movement disjointed and unnatural.

When I reached the top I could see the door was already open.

He was standing at the other side, by the large window, looking out at the night. He was still wearing his uniform, but had discarded his tie, his shirt was unbuttoned at the top. His hair lay unruly on his head, as always, and I watched as he stretched a long hand through the dark strands.

As if suddenly aware of me watching him, he turned, silently, to greet me.

"Bishop," was all he said.

I took a few steps toward him. "Black."

We stared at each other then, neither of us saying anything. The air was thick with something, something that had been planted there for a while, growing in the dark, eager to reach out into the light.

"Come look at the stars with me," he said, unexpectedly.

I walked over, as if on autopilot, and clasped my hands on the windowsill, right beside his.

"Look at that star over there, the really bright one," he pointed out the window. "Can you see it?"

I couldn't miss it, it was the brightest star in the sky. "Yes," I said.

"That's Sirius. It's part of the Canis Major constellation, also known as the Great Dog." He laughed, and the sound wafted through the air, like petals in the summer breeze. "I always thought it was a funny coincidence that my name was the same as my animagus, you know, but now I wonder if our names somehow shape who we are, who we're supposed to become."

I looked at the star, and it shone bright and warm, much like the person next to me.

"Do you know what Evelyn means?" he asked.

"My mother once told me it means much wished for, desired. Some places say it means light."

"Light..?"

"Indeed."

"Written in the stars it would seem."

"What's written in the stars?"

"Us. You and me."

I turned to him then, and he was looking at me. Looking at me properly, like he could read the words written on my heart. I think I liked it.

This was it. This was what I had dreamed about in different moments with different people but was somehow so much more than I could have ever comprehended before this exact moment in time.

"Eva," he breathed, his eyes flicking back and forth across my face.

He swallowed deeply as I whispered, "Sirius," as if for the first time.

"You can't just say my name like that and then just expect me not to kiss you."

"I guess that's not what I was expecting."

I reached up my hand to move a strand of hair from his face, but he caught it, held it tight, and then he was kissing me.

He kissed me like he was trying to share something. Share a story, a feeling. It was like he needed to share a part of himself that I had never seen before, and this part of him was soft and tender, warm and hot. I could feel the heat simmering in my stomach, in my cheeks as I kissed him too. His lips were softer than I thought they would be, and his hair tickled my nose as it got caught between our faces.

As if I hadn't quite realised what I was doing, I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him gently away.

"Sirius, I-"

"Don't speak," he said. "Don't say anything, because I really don't want to mess this up."

"But, I-"

"Eva," he grasped my hands. One of them was still warm from when he'd been holding it before. "I need to tell you how I feel, and I need to tell you now. I should have told you long ago, but it was never the right time, and I didn't want to make things awkward between us."

It seems the only language that I can speak when in some form of shock is the language of mutes. That is, to say, nothing.

He let go of my hands then and started walking around the room, grazing his fingertips against the wall as he gathered his thoughts. "You see, Eva, I didn't think you would ever feel this way about me. I thought perhaps you did, but I was so caught up in you I was blind to how you felt about Remus. Then you started acting differently around me, and around him, and then at Lily's party, before I found out about the potion, I thought you... And then I wasn't sure, but you kept looking at me, just all the time, and then in Potions yesterday, I knew you were staring at me, and you wouldn't tell me why. I needed to know. I'd been patient for so long that I just couldn't be patient anymore, and in your diary you wrote that fancied me, and I knew it for sure. I knew you finally felt the same way about me."

He had made his way completely around the room at this point, and stood in front of me again. He took a deep breath. "Eva, I lo-"

"Wait," I said.

He stopped, mid-sentence, wide eyed and flushed.

"What did you say about my diary?"

"Oh, it's nothing, just let me finish."

"No, what did you say about my diary?"

"Eva, come on," he implored, running a hand across my cheek. "It doesn't matter."

"No, it does." I felt sick. "Sirius Black, did you read my diary?"

He looked at me, and said nothing, but his face said everything for him.

"I can't believe you read my diary."

"It doesn't matter," he began.

"No, that's the thing, it does matter." I took a step away from him, my back now touching the wall. The cold stone did little to soothe the heat racing through my body.

"There's more important things-"

"No, Black, I'll tell you what's important. Trust. Trust is what's important. You know how personal my diary is, well, I guess you really do know now. It's everything to me. I pour everything into that damn book, and the one thing I ask of people, is to respect my privacy, and show me the simple courtesy of not reading my diary."

"I'm sorry-"

"No, you don't understand. I'm a private person. It takes me a while to open up to people. It takes me a while to share things, and I only do it when I really trust someone."

"You can trust me," he said, his eyes starting to shine. "You can always trust me!"

"I thought I could," I replied, a weight settling on my heart, "but you read my diary."

"Eva," he said.

"Just don't, Black." And then I ran.

In comparison to how long it took me to get to the Astronomy Tower, the journey back to my dormitory seemed to fly by.

It felt like within seconds I was standing in front of the door, carefully trying not to wake my friends.

I turned the handle and slowly opened it.

The room was dark, but I could see a figure sitting on my bed.

It was Lily.

"Are you okay, Eva?" she asked as I sat down beside her. She wiped a tear off of my face. I hadn't realised I was crying.

"Please tell James that he owes Black and I fifteen galleons each," was all I could say.

"I don't understand, Eve, why does he... Oh."

"Oh."

"Did you not want him to? Is that why you're crying?"

"I did want him to, that's the thing."

"Then what's wrong, Eve?"

"He read my diary, Lils. He kissed me and then he told me he read my diary, and I don't know what to do."

"It's okay."

"It's really not."

"I know."

And then she held me until my cheeks dried up and my eyes grew tired.

 _ **AN: Sorry... That's all**_

 _ **OXO**_


	32. Feelings are Cancelled from Now On

**Monday**

 **February 16, 1978**

 **The Library**

I've decided that perhaps one of the wisest things I have ever come up with is, 'When in doubt, owl my mum.' For example:

 _Dearest Evie,_

 _Thank you darling for writing me back - it's been ever so long since I heard from you! I am glad to hear you and that Remus fellow have broken up - it sounded like he was a good friend but I don't think he is the best boyfriend for you!_

 _I'm sorry to hear about Sirius reading your diary. I am sure that he meant well with his affection, but I do believe it is reasonable for you to be upset with him for reading your personal information. Do let him know from me that I am upset with him, and that I will no longer be sending him brownies for the time being._

 _On another note, your father has taken to gardening with renewed vigour, even after I told him that it's too cold to plant anything, but he is pushing through to build a flower garden ready for spring!_

 _Mrs Morrison from my baking club says to say hello, and that she's terribly disappointed you're still attending that private school off in Scotland, and that her sister's son Bernard is recently single. I informed her, in no uncertain terms, that she was very kind but you would not be interested. She asked me to send a photo of him in this letter to make sure, but I threw it into the bin only after she left - I don't want her to stop sending me her coffee cake, after all!_

 _Hopefully you will be able to come home in the next holidays as your father and I miss you terribly. Please bring all of your friends with you as well, as we would be glad for the company of young people._

 _All my love,_

 _Mum._

Even my own mother is disappointed in the recent turn of events. I mean, who wouldn't be?

Honestly, I don't really feel like writing about it. I mean I got the whole story out a couple of days ago, but I've been putting off writing anything else down because I feel a bit like you betrayed me, you know? Like if I hadn't had a diary in the first place then a specific person that I don't want to mention wouldn't have read it, and then my heart and head wouldn't be the jumble of thoughts and feelings that they are.

So I'm only writing in you now because it makes me feel better, and I can't think clearly about things unless I'm writing them down.

Let's address the positives, shall we? Two days ago was February 14th. I was caught up in a whole lot of thoughts and feelings so I didn't really mention it, but Hogwarts always likes to go a bit psycho for holidays, and Valentine's Day was no exception.

Dumbledore created a series of howlers that work as singing telegrams, which was fun, especially when James and Lily started a competition to see who could send each other the most annoying telegram. Lily still wasn't talking to me then, but she is now.

I guess I'm not really talking to her though, or anyone, not since Saturday night.

But enough of that, I don't really want to write about it either. I'm hoping that if I sweep my emotions under the rug then I won't have to deal with them. It seems to be working so far!

Oh, thank Merlin, here comes Isadora James.

Never thought I'd ever say that, but hey, desperate times, you know?

It actually looks like she's coming over to talk to me, which is weird, because in what situation would Isadora ever come over to talk to me, you know? It's very unlike her.

"Eva Bishop," she says, three feet in front of me with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Isa... James," I reply, for lack of anything better to say.

She raises a carefully shaped eyebrow. "You do know that the shortened version of my name is Izzie, right? This isn't secret information."

"I just always call you Isadora in my head, I suppose."

"Right. Well, I know we don't really talk much, seeing as how we have some sort of inbuilt animosity toward each other based off of petty grievances, but I've been building up to talk to you for a few weeks now and finally I'm here, so."

I watch as she lets out a deep breath. "Huzzah?" I say, not really knowing where this is going.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be, Eva."

"I won't, please continue." I can neither confirm nor deny whether or not I will make whatever she wants to say harder than it needs to be, but I figured it would go faster if I agreed.

"Okay, so I have two things to say to you. The first one is sorry."

"What?"

"Not for me, but for Aislin. Ash is, well, sometimes misguided in her affections, and I think she went a bit too far this time."

"You're referring to when she illegally drugged me, correct?"

Isadora began to grimace. "Not something that I thought I would ever have to confirm, but yes, I am referring to that occasion."

"Why are you apologising, exactly? You didn't do anything."

"True, I didn't, but I know that she's not going to apologise and I thought it was important if someone did, so, officially, I'm sorry for her behaviour, and I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

I didn't really know what to say to that, to be honest, but I thought the appropriate response would be, "Well, thank you, I suppose."

"I'm going to apologise to Bl-"

"Please don't finish that sentence," I interrupt. I don't want her do-good-er-i-ness to ruin my detox of a particular person any more than it already has.

She seems confused but thankfully moves onto the next part of why she came over to my library nook.

"The other thing I wanted to talk with you is about Hollard."

Oh yes, Hol Buggery. I forgot that he existed. Sorry, Hol.

"I have broken up with him."

"Congrats?"

She raised a manicured eyebrow.

"My condolences?"

"Remember when I was, well, upset, and you came over and asked how I was going, and shared with me information pertaining to my once boyfriend?"

"Vaguely."

"You mentioned his sister, Prudence?"

"Wasn't it Penelope?"

"It doesn't matter, because she doesn't exist."

It takes a second to process this information.

"What do you mean she doesn't exist, wasn't that what the Slytherins were holding against him? His family?"

Isadora sighs and takes a seat next to me. "No, he lied to you."

"Then what...?"

"He's a coward, and he's too much of a coward to say that he's a coward so he lied to you about it. And then I broke up with him."

"Because he's a coward?"

"No, because he betrayed my trust."

I can't help but let out a little bit of a laugh. I've never thought of Isadora and I as similar before, but her last comment definitely resonates with me.

I forgot how volatile her mood is, though. "Is that funny to you, Bishop?"

"No, sorry," I say. "It's just... I get it."

"How? Remus would never do something like that to you."

Oh, wow. Someone's behind on the times.

"I'm not talking about Remus."

"Then, who? Oh, did I even need to ask? It's Black, isn't it."

I jump slightly at the mention of his name. "Why does everyone seem to make comments about him all the time, or not seem surprised whenever something happens between us? I only just started having feelings for him, so how can everyone know that already?"

"Oh my, well isn't this a development?" Isadora seems shocked at this tidbit of information. "That's just, wow. Merlin, I'm pleased for him."

"You shouldn't be, he's a twunt head."

"Oh, right. Trust breaking. What happened?"

As if overcome by the ghost of a female author from the 1800s, I begin to tell my woeful tale of lies and deceit to none other than Isadora James. By the time I've finished, she's patting me on the shoulder and I'm suddenly aware that this is potentially the first time I've been this close to her without wanting to cause her grievous bodily harm. It's a surreal feeling, but then again, I'm feeling a lot of topsy-turvy things at the moment.

"Would you like me to hex him for you?" she asks as soon as I've finished my tale. "I'm quite good at spells, you know."

"I know," I reply, using all of my effort to not point out that I'm still Flitwick's favourite student.

"Or I could erase his memory, or yours. I've actually been talking to your friend Charlotte as we're both quite interested in memory spells, so I could give it a red hot go."

I raise an eyebrow at that statement. "I'll pass, but thanks."

As if suddenly aware that we've breached an unknown area in our relationship, Isadora rises to her feet, reaching for a book on the shelf next to us. We stare at each other. "Well, I'll give him a hard glare next time I see him in class, how's that?" she finally says.

"That'll do, thanks Isadora."

"Thanks yourself," she says before flouncing off, her red hair bobbing as she walks out of sight.

Well, that was interesting. I should probably leave the library now, though. I mean, I have got classes. NEWTs are coming up relatively soon, and all.

I've got Potions first thing, dammit.

 **Monday**

 **February 16, 1978**

 **Potions**

Sometimes people really come through for you, and in this case the person that came through for me was none other than Sirius Black, the bane of my existence, who did not show up for Potions class today.

What luxury it has been, lounging at my desk, chopping ingredients without fear of having to look anyone in the eyes or indeed talk to, look at, or think about whatsoever.

I think I am indeed doing an excellent job of not thinking about Sirius Black, the person who weaseled his way into my life and into my heart and then pushed harder than he should have and left me feeling rather terrible inside. Definitely not thinking about him.

And I'm also not thinking about Lily, who I can feel staring holes into the back of my head, whispering about me with James, or Lottie, who gave me a hug when I walked into class.

And I'm also not thinking about Remus, who possibly hates me.

Also, Voldemort's a thing, and I'm not thinking about that either.

There's a lot of things I'm not thinking about.

Actually, you know what? I just realised writing about things means I'm technically thinking about them, so I might have to just not write in my diary for today. What do you think diary?

 _You won't be able to do it._

Wrong. I can.

 _We'll see._

Pfft. I can do it. I don't write in my diary everyday anyway, so it's gonna be a piece of cake. This is me, signing off, doing my potions, returning at an undisclosed date.

 **Monday**

 **February 16, 1978**

 **Gryffindor Girls Dormitory**

Okay.

I know.

Yes, I know what I said.

But, as we may have already established - can we trust anything I say? Potentially not.

Before we get all annoyed at me for going back on my word, I only did it because it was important.

And again, before you say anything, I just had a very very very bad experience with Sirius Black.

 _How could it be so bad that you had to go back on your word, Eva?_

Well, first of all, I only said I wouldn't write stuff down because I was trying not to think about him, but now that we've had an actual conversation I think it makes that point redundant!

So, what actually happened is the next part I suppose.

Every Monday evening we have quidditch practice. That's where this tale starts.

Unfortunately for me, I couldn't exactly avoid quidditch practice like I have tried to avoid every other area of my life thus far. Quidditch is quidditch, you know? Also, James Potter is my captain, and if I want to make it through the week without getting hexed I'd better turn up. I was kind of hoping he'd let me be a beater, because we all know it's therapeutic to hit things with a bat (not people, mind you, just inanimate objects).

Alas, he did not.

Practice was fine, you know, the usual grind. The only not-fine thing about practice was James Potter just kind of giving me sad looks the entire time and then looking away whenever he saw that I was noticing him giving me these sad looks. He almost got hit by a bludger though, which cheered me up.

After we'd finished practice, I was getting ready to head back to my dorm when none other than James Potter grabbed my arm and dragged me through a painting of trolls having a picnic.

As to be expected, I started lightly hitting him with my broom. Lightly, mind you. I didn't want to damage him. My broom, that is. James will be fine.

"Oi, Eva, can you please cut that out for a second?" asked James, more politely than I would have expected from a man being hit over the head by a broom.

I took a pause from hitting him. "Oi, James, can you please not kidnap me for a second?" I resumed hitting him.

"Yeah, I didn't, just- Just chill out," he grabbed the handle of my broomstick and ripped it out of my hands. Normally I would have been annoyed at him, but I guess it was a valid response under the circumstances.

He propped it up against the wall behind him, then crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to be civil now?"

"I'm not a child," I muttered.

"Then don't act like one," he replied.

I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Okay, well I'm sorry for dragging you here, but I needed to talk to you, and I didn't see any other circumstance in which you wouldn't just avoid me."

He made a valid point. So far I have spent the last two days avoiding everyone, including and especially James Potter. I don't think I need to explain why.

"Well out with it, then," I said.

"I want to talk about to what happened the other night."

"Which night?"

"Saturday night."

"Right. That night. Well, the weather was good, uh, my bed was comfortable. Is that all?"

"Eva."

There was something in the tone with which James said my name, and something so sombre about his face that I found it very hard to keep myself together after that.

"I don't really want to talk about it," I said quietly.

"I know, but I've got to deal with Sirius right now, and it would make it a whole lot easier if I knew what happened."

I tried my best not to flinch when I heard his name. I think I failed.

"Haven't you talked to Lily?"

"Yeah, but she's hazy on the details too."

"I still don't really want to talk about it."

James peered at me through his glasses before blinking, taking them off, and rubbing the glass against his jumper.

I just kind of stood there, not knowing what to say.

"Do you want a hug?" asked James.

I nodded.

I don't think I'd ever hugged James before that moment, but he's very tall and lanky, so it kind of felt like I was being crushed by a pole, but in a comforting way. Makes sense? No? Good.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," he said after a few long moments, "but I would appreciate it if you did."

I took a second to weigh my options.

"It's quite simple, really," I eventually said.

"Sorry, but you're going to have to move your head from my shoulder," said James. "I can't really hear what you're saying."

"Oh, right." I extricated myself from his arms, which meant I then had to look him in the face, which I didn't like as much. "Well, the long and short of it is that he, uh... Well, he, um... He-"

"Rip it off like a band-aid, Eva."

"Well, he kissed me."

James seemed surprised to hear this. "Right. Interesting. Is that... everything?"

"Well, then he told me he read my diary."

James grimaced. "Yeesh, yeah, maybe not his best call."

"Nope."

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"What do you think?"

"I think-"

Unexpectedly, we were interrupted by a loud clanging noise, as the suit of armour down the hall lost one of it its hands, followed by some loud swearing.

Within seconds, James and I both had our wands out, pointing at the direction of the noise. To my knowledge, suits of armour generally didn't swear.

"This better not be who I think it is," said James, his tone of voice seemingly resigned to the answer. "But so help me, if it's someone else, we will hex you."

Slowly but surely, a head appeared in mid-air.

To my great displeasure, that head belonged to Sirius Black.

For potentially the first time in his life, Black didn't have anything witty to say.

All he did was stare at me forlornly, which just made me feel worse.

"I, uh, shouldn't be here right now," said James, looking between the two of us.

I pointed my wand toward him. "You set this up, Potter."

"No, no, don't blame him, his intentions were pure," said Black, pulling the invisibility cloak off him and holding up his map. "I came here on my own. I just want to talk, Eva."

"I'm gonna... Just..." James grimaced at me, glared at Black, and then walked back out through the painting he had pulled me through.

I took a deep breath and stared at the ground.

"Eve, I just want to talk, okay? I'm sorry, I-"

"Just, please stop talking, Black."

"Okay," he said quietly.

I slowly lifted my eyes to meet his. I immediately wished I hadn't.

I have spent almost seven years of my life looking at this boy, and I'd never seen that look on his face before. Not before today, that is.

I felt sick. I stared at the ground again.

"Eve, I-"

I held up my hand and he stopped talking.

"I don't want to talk to you right now," Was all I could find in myself to say.

"You don't want to-"

"No."

I looked at him again, but there was something simmering behind his eyes this time, and I didn't know if I could stop it from bubbling over.

"Well, the thing is, I want to talk to you, so you're going to have to," he said after a few moments.

"I don't want to-"

"Yeah, well you need to, Eve! I kissed you, and then you kissed me too, and then you just, ran off, and I... I'm left here feeling confused, and I don't know what's going on!"

"You shouldn't have read my diary, then."

"Diary?" He started walking toward me, slowly. "Your diary is just a bloody book, Eve. It has nothing to do with us."

I started taking steps away from him, and my back hit the wall all too quickly. "It has everything to do with us. It has everything to do with me. You _know_ it's private, and you _know_ how personal it is, well, you know more intimately than anyone else now."

"It was a mistake," Black replied, now barely two steps away from me.

I failed to keep the tremor from my voice as I responded, "So was kissing you."

He stopped as if he'd been slapped.

We stared at each other, as if we hadn't done that enough already. His face showed too much emotion for me to discern which one he was feeling. I was sure mine showed something similar.

"Do you mean that?" he said.

"Yes."

"Because I read your diary."

"No, because I can't trust you anymore. And, if you read my diary you would know that I still don't know how I'm feeling. You know that I just broke up with Remus, and you know that it takes me a while to sort out everything in my head!"

"I only read the last entry. The one where you said you had feelings for me."

"Well you shouldn't have read it at all."

"Well I did, and I'm sorry, but it clearly said that you have feelings for me! I don't understand what the problem is?"

We were yelling now.

"The problem is I don't trust you, and, I'm still trying to work through whatever my last relationship was, and I hadn't really worked out what my feelings were, and I definitely don't know what they are now! So you can't come here, expecting things from me when you were the one that let me down!"

"I let you down? Oh, that's rich." He curled his hands into fists and stormed off in the other direction.

"What in _Merlin's_ name is that supposed to mean?"

He paused his stomping and whipped around to face me, where I was greeted with a look of incredulity so intense I was immediately caught off guard. He opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it.

"What, Black?"

"Bishop, the fact that you don't know the answer to that question is answer enough. Why did I ever..?" He shook his head and sighed. "I'm done here."

With that, he walked off down the corridor, and I stormed out the portrait and to my dorm, feeling bewildered and confused about what just happened, and annoyed that he had left making me feel like the bad guy, when I _clearly_ have done **NOTHING** wrong here.

I am so mad right now. And annoyed and upset and confused and so many other things.

Here's a list.

 _ **A Potentially Incomplete List of All of the Emotions One Evelyn K. O. Bishop is Feeling in Regards to Everything that Has Occurred Recently in her Life:**_

 **1.** I am angry. I am angry at Black for making me feel like this. I am angry at James Potter for letting me get into that situation back there. I am angry at myself for not being smart enough to know that getting involved with Black would be, is, and forever will be a bad idea.

 **2.** I am confused. What on _earth_ was Black talking about back there? Clearly he is in the wrong and I am not. Why he is he so _obtuse_ that he could think otherwise?

 **3.** Emphasis on angry.

 **4.** Hurt? I'm very upset right now, but I also still can't help but feel something for him, still, even though he has been the biggest twunt head I have ever had the displeasure of coming across in my life. How dare he betray me and then make it feel like it's my fault.

 **5.** OH BOY AM I ANGRY RIGHT NOW.

I am going to go to the Forbidden Forest and hex things because I have too much aggression right now to think or act clearly, and I need to let it out.

In conclusion, all feelings are cancelled from now on.

 **Three things:**

 **1) Happy Easter!**

 **2) I'm sorry, both for this chapter and that it took so long**

 **3) I love you all dearly**

 **OXO**


End file.
